“I’m not focused on bigger government or smaller government. My main focus is on smart government. The money we are spending should be spent on programs and policies that actually deliver results.”

Jon Baron was the first of the nine Democrats running for governor to call for student vaccine mandates. Baron made that plea to Gov. Larry Hogan in August, saying all public school students ages 16 and up should be required to either get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.

CUMBERLAND — Democratic Maryland gubernatorial hopeful Jon Baron, a former nonprofit executive who served in the Clinton administration and was twice confirmed by the U.S. Senate, says he wants to see the way the state operates change, lest it stay stuck in the same rut it has been for the past 20 years.

The answer to the state’s woes, according to Baron, is solutions-based and well-researched social program policy, focused on, among other things, education and economy.

“The poverty rate in Maryland today is 9%. You know what it was in 1995? It was 9%. Because for low and moderate income Marylanders, we’ve seen stagnant wages for several decades while income inequality has been growing.”

Baron’s core message is that the state’s biggest challenges have existed for decades and that current programs aren’t addressing them.

Six of nine democratic gubernatorial candidates spoke at a forum hosted by the Anne Arundel County Democratic Party in Gambrills on Thursday evening.

When Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jon Baron traveled to Frostburg last week for a dinner, he took some time to discuss some of his ideas and what made him decide to run for governor.

Jon Baron . . . called on Hogan to require COVID vaccination or weekly testing for all Maryland public school students aged 16 and over, and to require vaccination for all school staff.

“At this time, almost all COVID hospitalizations and deaths are preventable. Vaccines are extremely effective at preventing serious illness or death from this disease. We should use every tool at our disposal to get more Marylanders vaccinated,” Baron said. “Currently just over half of 12-17 year-old Marylanders are vaccinated, and their low vaccination rate puts our youngest school children – who can’t yet be vaccinated – and immunocompromised patients at risk. The bottom line: vaccines save lives, so let’s do what works.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jon Baron is calling for expansive statewide COVID vaccine mandates.

Baron, a nonprofit executive running for Maryland governor in 2022, favors vaccine mandates for all state employees and contractors, K-12 teachers and staff and all health care workers.