Reversing course, Democrat Jack Young told the Baltimore Sun last week that he is now considering seeking a full term as mayor of Baltimore in 2020.
Young was elected from his post as City Council president to replace scandal-plagued former Mayor Catherine Pugh in May. At the time, he said he would only serve out the remainder of her term and not make a bid for his own four years in office, part of an agreement he made with City Council Vice President Sharon Middleton. The plan was for Middleton to replace Young as council president and, at the completion of Young’s term, the pair would then run for their previous positions.
However, Councilman Brandon Scott, who has been floated as a possible mayoral candidate, unanimously won a council vote to succeed Young as president, upending Young's arrangement with Middleton. Young openly acknowledged that this turnabout led to his reconsideration, saying that “Sharon and I had an agreement. And then this thing with Brandon, it threw off the plan.” But should Young choose to run, there are already some candidates lined up to challenge him in the Democratic primary, most notably former state Deputy Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah. Vignarajah ran for Baltimore City state’s attorney in 2018, taking 23% while finishing last in a three-way contest.
The field could yet grow, as a number of candidates are reportedly eyeing bids of their own ahead of the January 2020 filing deadline. Heading the roster is Ben Jealous, the Democrats' 2018 gubernatorial nominee and now a consultant for electronic cigarette maker Juul—a career choice that has opened the former NAACP president to criticism as vaping rates among teens skyrocket.
Importantly, a simple plurality is all that's required to secure the Democratic nomination, meaning that in a large field, a winner could scratch out a victory with a relatively small share of the vote. But regardless, whoever wins the April 28 primary will be a virtual lock to prevail in the Nov. 3 general election in this deep blue city.