MARYLAND, USA — Former Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker announced Friday that he is suspending his bid for the Democratic nomination for governor of Maryland.
"We're not suspending the campaign because we don't have a path to victory," Baker said firmly. "We're suspending the campaign because of [money]."
Baker said the campaign was facing financial challenges that made it difficult to continue and with a crowded field of candidates, resources within his campaign could not match up.
"We were doing well until the other campaigns started spending millions of dollars," Baker said. "When we looked at how much we were bringing in with public financing...there was no way to raise staff money and raise another million dollars to get us over."
A polling memo conducted by 2020 Insight, LLC -- that WUSA9 recently obtained -- showed State Comptroller Peter Franchot maintaining his lead with 17% and both Wes Moore and John King tied in second place with 16%. Tom Perez was polling at 12%, Doug Gansler at 6% and Baker had 5%.
The poll, conducted between May 19 and May 22, included 430 likely Democratic primary voters. Like prior polls, a large group of voters remains undecided, with 27% of those polled saying they were not sure who they would vote for.
Baker wrote on Twitter that while he is suspending his bid for the nomination, he said he will continue to be a vocal supporter of the priorities of his campaign, particularly the problem of violent crime in Baltimore and the corrosive effect of corporate and dark money in the political system.
“Getting the economy rolling, making sure that everybody’s inclusive in this new economy, these opportunities that are going to rise, I think that’s one of the first things that we want to do, along with public safety," Baker said during a sit-down interview with WUSA9 in October 2021. "People are hurting right now.”
He said he will remain engaged in Maryland's political process, and that he is reserving the right to reactivate political activities. He said he will have a more permanent decision to share in the coming weeks in addition to announcing which of the remaining campaigns he plans to support.
"We're going to take the weekend and do an assessment of who we think has the best chance of winning the primary and can win the general," he said.
Baker came in second in the crowded Democratic primary for governor in 2018. He won 29% of the vote in that primary. Following the race, Baker admitted he didn’t do enough listening to voters in Baltimore, Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore and thought what he did in Prince George’s County was enough.
Primary elections in Maryland take place on July 19.