Local Problems.
Principled Solutions.

Baltimore City does not exist in a vacuum. It competes — every single day — with Baltimore County and the surrounding jurisdictions for the residents and businesses that fund its government. That competition is real, and right now the city is losing it badly.

The math is straightforward: Baltimore City's property tax rate is more than double Baltimore County's. Its violent crime rate is among the highest of any major American city. Its public schools chronically underperform. Its permitting and regulatory environment is a burden on any business trying to operate here. Given all of that, it should surprise no one that taxpaying residents and businesses — those who have the means to relocate — often do exactly that.

What should concern every Baltimorean is what happens next. When middle-class residents and productive businesses leave, the tax base shrinks. When the tax base shrinks, the city either cuts services or raises rates on those who remain — which accelerates the next round of departures. This is not a theory. It is what Baltimore has been living through for decades, and the population numbers show it plainly.

At the same time, city policies have consistently made Baltimore more attractive to those who consume public services than to those who fund them. That is not a criticism of people in poverty — it is an observation about the predictable consequences of policy choices. When you structure government services, housing subsidies, and regulatory burdens in ways that make the city a better deal for some and a worse deal for others, you should not be surprised when each group responds accordingly. People respond to incentives. They always have.

City leaders have largely refused to reckon with this dynamic honestly. The political coalition that has governed Baltimore for fifty years depends on the current arrangement — high spending, high taxes, and a concentration of government-dependent voters. The result is a city that has been slowly hollowed out while its leaders congratulate themselves on their compassion.

• Compete Seriously for the Middle Class Baltimore will not reverse its decline without winning back middle-class families — people who pay taxes, send children to school, patronize local businesses, and invest in their neighborhoods. Every major policy decision should be evaluated through this lens: does it make Baltimore more or less competitive for this group?
• Recognize That Incentives Drive Outcomes Government policy changes what people do. Tax someone's success heavily enough and they will pursue less of it — or pursue it somewhere else. Subsidize dependency generously enough and you will attract and create more of it. These are not ideological claims; they are observations about human behavior that hold across cultures and centuries. Baltimore's leaders need to govern as if this is true, because it is.
• Stop Treating Departure as the Problem When residents leave Baltimore, the reflexive response is to blame them. But people leaving is a signal, not a cause. The cause is the combination of high taxes, poor services, and inadequate safety that makes the calculation to leave an easy one. Fix those things and people will stay — and others will come.
• Measure Policy by Results, Not Intentions Programs that claim to help Baltimore's most vulnerable residents should be evaluated rigorously on whether they actually do so. Good intentions are not enough. A policy that traps people in dependency, crowds out private economic activity, or drives away the employers who would provide jobs is a harmful policy — regardless of how it is marketed.

The path back for Baltimore runs through becoming a city that people choose to live in — not because they have no other options, but because it offers something worth choosing. That means competing honestly and governing with that competition in mind.

As a business owner in Baltimore City, Jeff has lived the regulatory and tax environment that shapes whether entrepreneurs stay or go. Baltimore's economy underperforms its potential — not because Baltimoreans lack drive or creativity, but because the systems surrounding business creation and growth are unnecessarily punishing.

The best outcomes emerge from the decisions of individuals and businesses with real, local knowledge — not from central planning or government picking winners. Markets, when allowed to function, generate information and incentives that no bureaucracy can replicate. Government's role is to create the conditions for those decisions to be made freely.

• Cut Regulatory Burden for Small Businesses Licensing fees, permitting delays, and compliance costs fall disproportionately on small businesses that lack the staff of large corporations. A serious regulatory review — with an eye toward elimination and simplification — would do more for Baltimore's economy than any incentive program.
• End Selective Tax Incentives Tax breaks for favored companies distort markets, reward political connections, and ultimately don't deliver the promised jobs. Jeff supports a lower, broader, and more neutral tax environment over politically targeted incentives.
• Anchor Baltimore's Neighborhoods with Commercial Corridors Vibrant commercial strips — local restaurants, retailers, services — are the economic and social heartbeat of neighborhoods. Zoning, permitting, and code enforcement should actively support, not hinder, their development.
• Support the Port & Healthcare Sectors Baltimore's port and its world-class healthcare and university institutions are genuine competitive assets. Policy should support growth in these sectors without creating dependency or inefficiency.

Baltimore has talent, location, and history. What it needs is a government that gets out of the way of the people who want to build here.

Baltimore City has one of the highest property tax rates of any major American city — more than double the rate in Baltimore County. That fact alone explains much of the population loss the city has experienced for decades. Residents who can afford to move out often do. Businesses that can locate elsewhere often will.

Fiscal discipline is not simply about cutting. It's about honesty: Are we getting results for what we spend? Are funds going where they're intended? Are pension and infrastructure obligations being properly managed? These are questions that don't get asked enough — and Jeff believes asking them is itself an act of public service.

• A Credible Path to Property Tax Reduction Baltimore's property tax rate is a structural barrier to investment, homeownership, and business location. A phased reduction plan — tied to demonstrated spending efficiency — would signal to the market that the city is serious about competing for residents and businesses.
• Transparent, Outcome-Based Budgeting Every major line item in Baltimore's budget should be evaluated on outcomes, not inputs. How many dollars per outcome? What's the trend? What's being cut or preserved, and why? Baltimore residents deserve that level of transparency.
• Pension Sustainability Underfunded pension obligations are a ticking clock for city finances. Addressing this honestly — rather than deferring it to future administrations — is a matter of intergenerational fairness.
• Stop Structural Deficit Spending Recurring budget gaps papered over with one-time revenues or accounting maneuvers are a form of dishonesty to taxpayers. Structural deficits require structural solutions.

Every dollar government spends is a dollar earned by someone in Baltimore. Spending it well, honestly, and on things that genuinely work is a moral obligation — not just a financial one.

Education is the issue that most immediately shapes Baltimore's future. The city's public school system, despite significant per-pupil spending, has chronically underperformed. Graduation rates, reading proficiency, and math achievement all lag national averages — and the families who can least afford alternatives are the most trapped by that failure.

The fundamental problem is structural: when families have no exit option, schools face no competitive pressure to improve. School choice — in its various forms — is the most direct way to give every Baltimore family the power to demand better for their children. It also happens to be one of the most powerful tools for keeping middle-class families in the city, rather than losing them to the county the moment their first child reaches school age.

• Expand Charter School Access Baltimore has some excellent charter schools, and demand far exceeds supply. Expanding access to high-quality charter options — especially in underserved neighborhoods — should be a priority, not an afterthought.
• Support Scholarship Tax Credits & Voucher Programs Private and parochial schools serve thousands of Baltimore students well. Scholarship programs that help lower-income families access these schools expand opportunity without reducing existing options.
• Accountability for District Schools Choice is not an excuse to abandon district schools — the majority of Baltimore students will continue to attend them. Accountability, transparency in spending, and high expectations for academic outcomes must be non-negotiable.
• Parental Engagement & Transparency Parents have a right to know what their children are being taught and how their school is performing. Curriculum transparency and genuine parent engagement — not just pro forma committee participation — are essential to educational accountability.

Every child in Baltimore City deserves an education that prepares them for a good life. Where they live and how much their parents earn should not determine whether they get one.

Public safety is a prerequisite for everything else on this list. Without it, businesses won't open or stay, middle-class families won't choose Baltimore over the county, and children can't focus on learning. The data is stark — Baltimore has long ranked among the most dangerous large cities in America, and residents across every neighborhood feel the consequences.

The answer is not to abandon accountability or to pretend that policing reform and effective law enforcement are mutually exclusive. They are not. Effective policing requires trust — and trust must be earned through professional standards, transparency, and demonstrated commitment to every neighborhood equally.

• Fully Staff the BPD Baltimore's police department has operated far below full strength for years. Chronic understaffing means slower response times, more burned-out officers, and less proactive community engagement. Recruitment and retention must be a fiscal priority.
• Accountability That Supports Officers Good officers — the vast majority — deserve a department that holds bad actors accountable. Accountability protects officers' reputations and their mission. Consent decree compliance should be pursued seriously, not treated as an obstacle.
• Prosecutorial Follow-Through Arrests without prosecution signal to repeat offenders that there are no consequences. Jeff supports coordination between the BPD and the State's Attorney to ensure that violent offenders face genuine legal consequences.
• Community-Based Intervention Targeted, evidence-based violence interruption programs in the city's highest-need neighborhoods — as a complement to, not a replacement for, effective policing.

Baltimore's people deserve to feel safe walking to the store, sitting on their front steps, and sending their children to school. That is not a partisan position — it is a baseline.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the economy, healthcare, education, and civic life right now — faster than most governments are prepared to handle. On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV — the first American pope and holder of a B.A. in Mathematics — issued his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, devoted entirely to AI. He called it a transformation with consequences greater than the Industrial Revolution and declared: "The time to talk about AI is now. It is urgent." When the Vatican devotes its most authoritative document to a technology, that technology has arrived. Baltimore City, Maryland, and the Central Committee all need to respond.

Jeff Schoenborn — who holds a B.A. in Mathematics as well — is a working computer programmer and data analytics professional — understands this from the inside. As a demonstration: this entire campaign website was built using AI in roughly two hours, at a fraction of what it would have cost just a few years ago. That same leverage is now arriving in every sector simultaneously. The Central Committee needs people who grasp what that actually means.

• Baltimore Must Compete for the AI Economy The cities that attract AI-driven businesses and talent will see their tax bases grow. Those that don't will continue to shrink. Baltimore's universities, healthcare sector, and port position it well — if city leaders pursue this opportunity intelligently rather than reactively.
• Use AI to Drive Government Efficiency AI can do in minutes what takes city employees days: processing permits, analyzing spending, identifying waste, routing service requests. A fiscally stressed city like Baltimore cannot afford to ignore tools that reduce costs and improve service delivery. The question is not whether to use them, but how to govern their use well.
• Accountability in Algorithmic Governance When AI systems influence decisions about policing, benefits, or housing, residents have a right to understand how those systems work and to contest outcomes. The Republican principle of limited, accountable government applies fully to algorithmic decision-making.
• The Central Committee Needs Technical Literacy Political parties that understand emerging technology can use it to communicate more effectively, identify and engage voters, and develop sharper policy. Those that don't will be outcompeted by those that do. Having people on the committee with genuine technical backgrounds is not a luxury — it is a competitive necessity.

The AI era is not waiting for Baltimore to catch up. The only question is whether its leaders — and the Republican Party that holds them accountable — will engage with it seriously or be left behind.