Fresh off Mamdani win, progressive group pours $737K into Baltimore County race

The Working Families Party, the Brooklyn-based progressive group that helped get Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York, is making its next big gamble — this time in Baltimore County.

The national organization’s political action committee has dropped $737,373 in recent weeks on mailers and commercials supporting Sarah David, who is attempting to unseat 19-year incumbent Scott Shellenberger as the county’s top prosecutor, campaign finance records show.

That’s nearly four times what David’s own campaign has spent in the Democratic primary.

The PAC is registered as an independent expenditure committee, meaning it can’t coordinate directly with candidates but can spend unlimited sums supporting or opposing them.

With weeks remaining until the June 23 election, no outside group has spent more in Maryland this year than the Working Families Party PAC. The committee has focused on downballot local races, on which it can outspend smaller campaign budgets and wield outsize influence.

The party’s director of criminal justice initiatives, Delvone Michael, pointed to concerns about Shellenberger, a 67-year-old law-and-order Democrat who has been in office since 2007.

“I don’t want to take away from his public service, but Scott Shellenberger is someone who stood out as particularly bad on issues of victim services, bad on domestic violence, bad on rape and things of that nature,” Michael said. “We decided that he was someone who had to be replaced.”

Shellenberger has argued he deserves a sixth term because of his experience, a decline in felony crime during his tenure and his aggressive prosecution of violent offenders. He criticized efforts by out-of-state donors to influence the primary.

“I think the people of Baltimore County need to decide these races,” he said. “When outside groups who have nothing to do with anything that takes place in Baltimore County try to inject themselves, I just think that’s wrong.”

In an interview, David distanced herself from the PAC’s activity and emphasized the wide range of support she’s received in the race. Her campaign has far outraised her competitors and landed endorsements from Gov. Wes Moore and former House Speaker Adrienne Jones.

“I’m very proud of our campaign’s positive vision for change in Baltimore County and the broad support our campaign has received by elected leaders, community leaders and leaders in the legal community,” she said.

Beyond New York

Founded in New York City in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions and community organizations, the Working Families Party has expanded its national footprint in recent years and is active in 18 states.

It champions a progressive economic agenda that includes universal healthcare, paid family and medical leave, a national jobs program and higher taxes on the rich. On criminal justice, it advocates for prevention and diversion initiatives over more punitive enforcement strategies.

The party has backed left-leaning candidates across the country, either by endorsing Democrats or running candidates on its own party line. Mamdani, for instance, appeared on the New York City mayoral ballot as both a Democrat and a member of the Working Families Party.

The group often wades into local races, bringing money and credibility within progressive circles. In Maryland, it has endorsed candidates running this year for Congress, state legislature, county council, county executive and state’s attorney.

David, a 41-year-old prosecutor of political corruption, has shied away from labeling herself a progressive but said she would address crime holistically. She is the only Baltimore County candidate who has received the Working Families Party’s backing this election cycle.

“Based on her experience and qualifications, we thought she was the best suited to take down Scott,” Michael said.

Lauren Lipscomb, a self-described moderate Democrat running in the primary, criticized the Working Families Party’s involvement, saying its platform is out of step with county voters.

“Baltimore County has zero interest in the prosecution policies that follow this kind of money,” Lipscomb, a veteran Baltimore City prosecutor, said in a statement. “I have consistently refused to seek support from those who want to turn Baltimore County into a crime free-for-all at the expense of our safety.”

Deep pockets

A vast national network of donors has contributed $13.6 million to the Working Families Party PAC since the start of 2025, federal campaign finance filings show.

Although Maryland law caps donations to campaigns at $6,000, independent groups face no such limits. Among the largest donors to the Working Families Party PAC is Democracy PAC, a group backed by billionaire George Soros that has contributed $3 million. Another is Accountable Justice Action Fund, a New York nonprofit that supports criminal justice reform. It has contributed $1 million.

About 1% of the Working Families Party PAC’s money has come from Maryland donors.

PACs allied with the Working Families Party have spent at least $1.2 million in Maryland over the last four years, state records show, including on races for sheriff in Frederick County, school board in Prince George’s County and state’s attorney in Montgomery and Baltimore counties. Recently, they backed Aisha Braveboy’s campaign for Prince George’s County executive and Will Jawando for Montgomery County executive.

David, though, is the party’s biggest financial bet in Maryland to date.

“This is money they could spend in many, many places,” said Sam Novey, chief strategist at the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. “The fact that they’ve decided to spend at this scale is presumably a signal that they think they are positioned to win.”

A $1.6 million effort to oust Shellenberger

Many of the Working Families Party PAC’s ads have featured blistering critiques of Shellenberger’s record on immigration, an issue that has received little attention in a local race centered on juvenile crime, sexual assault and modernizing the prosecutor’s office.

In particular, several mailers accuse Shellenberger of cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he has acknowledged doing in cases involving convicted child sex offenders.

One warns, in all caps: “When State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger works with ICE, he puts us all at risk.”

This election isn’t the first time liberal PACs have splurged to oust Shellenberger. Three committees, including one allied with the Working Families Party, combined to spend $847,996 backing Robbie Leonard, a progressive prosecutor who challenged Shellenberger in the 2022 Democratic primary. Leonard lost by 2.4 percentage points.

In all, PACs have spent at least $1.6 million opposing Shellenberger over the last two election cycles.

“It shows that I must be doing a good job with criminals because liberal organizations want to get rid of me,” Shellenberger said.