Public financing programs faced biggest year yet in MD county executive primaries

Public funding in Maryland faced its biggest year yet in this year’s county executive primaries, with five counties using their systems simultaneously for the first time in a competitive field with only one incumbent seeking reelection.

This primary was the first chance for candidates in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Prince George’s counties to try public financing for their campaigns. It was the second time in Howard County and the third in Montgomery, the first to establish public financing, which was used successfully by outgoing County Executive Marc Elrich in his campaigns for executive.

Montgomery Councilmember Will Jawando won the county’s Democratic primary for executive after opting into the county’s public election fund, beating privately funded Councilmember Andrew Friedson, who raised more than twice what Jawando did.

Candidates who use public financing agree to stricter fundraising rules, like contribution limits and bans on donations from entities like political action committees. In return, they can receive public funds matched to several times the value of qualifying small donations from local residents.

After claiming victory, Jawando touted how his campaign received more individual donations than any county executive candidate in the state’s history at more than 3,500.

“I’m very proud of that,” Jawando said. “It’s the $5 from a senior on a fixed income, the $10 from a student that adds up – and public financing reinforces that.”

Jawando was the only publicly financed county executive candidate to win in this primary, but he wasn’t the only to run a competitive campaign. Montgomery Councilmember Evan Glass placed third with public funds, behind Jawando and Friedson. In Anne Arundel County, James Kitchen, special assistant to current County Executive Steuart Pittman, was the runner-up while Howard County Council Members Deb Jung and Liz Walsh each captured more than 20% of the vote.

No candidates opted into Prince George’s new program to face incumbent County Executive Aisha Braveboy, and despite a wide open race for Baltimore Country executive, publicly financed candidates struggled there.

For Kitchin, who earned the second-highest vote share among publicly financed county executive candidates, after Jawando, the hardest part was getting started. His committee spent more than half a year fundraising before it had raised enough to apply.

Anne Arundel County candidates must collect at least 500 valid contributions totaling at least $40,000 to qualify for public funds. Contributions must be from county residents and between $5 and $250.

“You couldn’t scale up as early as other campaigns might have been able to do, just because you were waiting to qualify,” Kitchin said.

Even after his committee qualified, he said that it couldn’t start receiving matching funds until other candidates filed, making the race officially contested. As a publicly funded hopeful he needed to file, but said privately funded candidates could wait until the filing deadline and “ice you out.”

“The first seven months, again, it’s like we were literally running our campaign only on the small-dollar donations,” Kitchin said.

Once the race is in full swing, publicly financed candidates face a lot more paperwork than a regular committee, like submitting a detailed receipt with every donation received with the donor’s signature noting that they knew they were giving to a public financing committee. That was the process for each of the more than 1,000 donations Kitchin’s campaign received.

The lag between when he filed those donations and when he received the matching funds posed an additional challenge.

“You had to raise the money, you had to wait for the time you can file the matching fund report, and then it takes, you know, still 10 days to two weeks after you file that report for the matching funds to hit your bank account,” he said.

“I get it, because you’re using taxpayer dollars, so you want to verify it. But it’s definitely like an extra layer of bureaucracy your finance people have to be aware of and willing to do,” Kitchin said. “It’s definitely more work to be a treasurer for a publicly financed campaign than for a regular one.”

And rules can vary between counties, as election funds are overseen by local commissions. Standardizing those rules is a primary concern of Common Cause, said Morgan Drayton, Maryland policy and engagement manager for the democracy advocacy group.

“We’re really trying to strike a balance between making sure that the programs are specific to the needs of those communities, while also getting that consistency that comes with more [standardization], like across the board,” Drayton said.

Requirements to qualify, maximum contribution limits and rates of matching funds are all rules that change across county lines.

In four of the five counties, including Anne Arundel, the qualification requirement for county executive races is the same: At least $40,000 worth of at least 500 qualified donations. Baltimore County has a higher threshold – $50,000 and 550 donations.

Baltimore County Councilman Pat Young managed to clear that bar; Marine veteran Mansoor Shams didn’t. The two candidates were the only ones of five in the Democratic primary to seek public funds, and they finished at fourth and fifth, respectively, with neither clearing 10% of the vote.

“Our ultimate goal is to make these programs as attractive as possible to candidates,” Drayton said. “At the end of the day, you know, if you can’t remain competitive, there’s no reason to opt in.”

As more candidates make use of public election funds, Drayton said she thinks there will be more of a push for improving and expanding public election funds throughout the state, such as for legislative candidates.

“I think that public campaign finance for any public elected office is a good idea,” she said, because it opens the door to a broader cast of potential candidates.

“As we’ve seen, they are particularly helpful to people of color, women, people who come from a socioeconomic background that doesn’t allow them to self-fund, that type of thing,” she said. “Even if you don’t necessarily agree with a certain politician’s ideas, a wide candidate field is good for democracy.”

It also opens the door for potential voters to make their voices heard, said Kitchin, since people who can only afford smaller donations will have their contributions amplified by matching funds. He said he appreciated how he didn’t have to turn away from those people and seek funds from large donors.

“I’ve seen where we’re compromising with corporate interest in ways that we shouldn’t have to,” he said. “The independence that gives you, I think, is huge.”

For Jawando, this county executive primary’s public finance champion, using the program gave him and his supporters a chance to stand up to corporate interests, too.

“It empowers those people to speak and to get more on par with the corporate donors who are giving $6,000 checks, and that’s what’s wrong with our democracy – is a small group of people, very wealthy people, have too much power,” he said. “I think we need to be pushing back as much as possible.”

Even though he lost his race, Kitchin said he thinks the introduction of public finance to his county set the stage for a new era of democracy.

“It allows somebody with deep community connections to turn those community connections into a large enough pot of resources to run a competitive race,” Kitchin said. “That had never been able to happen before, and that’s really powerful.”

Will Hammann is a general assignment news and data reporter for Maryland Matters.