Elections

2018

On August 26, 2017, Bates announced his candidacy for state's attorney of Baltimore, challenging incumbent state's attorney Marilyn Mosby.^[12] He ran on a platform of supporting community policing and curbing gun violence.^[13]

During the campaign, Kristien Miller, a supporter of Thiruvendran Vignarajah, filed a lawsuit against Bates alleging that he was not qualified to run for state's attorney. In March 2018, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill ruled that Bates had lived in the city since 2016 and was qualified to run for state's attorney.^[14][15]

In May 2018, Bates released a campaign ad in which he claimed that he had "never lost a murder case".^[16] He came under fire for this claim, as online court records show that Bates prosecuted eight murders and dropped five of them. Bates defended his claims by providing additional court records that list him as a prosecutor in homicide cases against Lynelle Whiting and Gregory Everett in 2001 and 2002 respectively.^[7] In June, he released a list of 11 more cases he claimed as "wins", four of which had ended in convictions.^[17] He later threatened to sue the two other candidates in the race, Vignarajah and Mosby, and the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper for defamation, calling the claims made by the candidates related to his murder cases were "absolute lies".^[18]

Also in May 2018, Bates told the Rolling Stone that he would drop charges against Adnan Syed, the Serial podcast host who was serving life in prison for his initial conviction in the killing of Hae Min Lee in 1999.^[19]

Bates was defeated in the Democratic primary on June 26, 2018, placing second behind Mosby with 28.1 percent of the vote.^[20]

2022

On November 18, 2021, Bates announced that he would again run for state's attorney, challenging incumbent state's attorney Marilyn Mosby.^[9][21]

Bates supports improving the technology used in the state's attorney's office, including software programs that would add subtitles to police body camera videos.^[9] He unveiled a prosecution plan in March 2022, which includes cracking down on gun violence and restarting prosecutions for nonviolent crimes such as drug possession, prostitution, and trespassing,^[22] promising mandatory prison sentences for people convicted on gun charges. He also sought to increase collaboration with the Baltimore Police Department to reduce violent crime. He stressed during the campaign that these policies did not mean the city would be returning to a tough-on-crime mindset that leads to mass incarceration, with many cases being funneled to diversion courts to connect people with alternative treatment services.^[23][24]

During the primary, Bates received endorsements from The Baltimore Sun,^[25] former Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon, former mayoral candidate Mary J. Miller,^[26] Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, state delegate Luke Clippinger, and former state's attorney Greg Bernstein.^[10]

Bates defeated incumbent state's attorney Marilyn Mosby and Democratic challenger Thiruvendran Vignarajah in the Democratic primary on July 19, 2022, receiving 40.9 percent of the vote.^[27] Bates was to face Independent candidate Roya Hanna in the general election, but she dropped out and endorsed Bates shortly after his primary win, clearing his path to victory.^[28][29]

Tenure

Bates was sworn in as state's attorney on January 3, 2023.^[30] On his first day in office, he reversed Mosby's non-prosecution policy for low-level offenses like drug possession, prostitution, and trespassing.^[31][32]

In July 2022, Bates told The Baltimore Banner that he planned drop the controversial case against Keith Davis, Jr., who was scheduled for a fifth murder trial in the fatal shooting of Pimlico Race Course security guard Kevin Jones in 2015.^[26] He declined to comment on the case after winning the Democratic primary, saying that "[a]s State's Attorney-elect, I am no longer a private citizen. I must be mindful of the gag order imposed to the current State's Attorney and how it would ethically apply to me".^[33] On January 13, 2023, Bates ended the State's Attorney's office's prosecution of Davis, dropping all charges against him.^[34]

During the 2023 legislative session, Bates endorsed a bill to increase maximum sentences from three years to five years for people who illegally carry handguns, arguing that it would "ensure fairness under the law and serve as a deterrent".^[35][36] The bill was supported by all elected state's attorneys in Maryland,^[37] and opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, faculty of Baltimore law schools, and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, who cited research from Johns Hopkins University which showed that longer sentences did not deter crime.^[38] The bill was later incorporated into the Gun Safety Bill of 2023, which was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in April,^[39] and signed into law by Governor Wes Moore in May 2023.^[40] In March 2023, Bates endorsed an anti-crime package introduced by the Maryland Republican Party, which included bills strengthening penalties for gun theft and repeat violent offenses.^[41]

In July 2023, amid a mass shooting in Baltimore that killed two and injured 28, Bates released a statement expressing his condolences and calling for gun control and policies targeting repeat violent offenders.^[42]

During the 2024 legislative session, Bates will support legislation to extend probationary periods for gun crimes committed by juveniles, limit the Child Interrogation Protection Act, and allow state's attorneys to file a motion to modify an incarcerated individual's sentence "at any time".^[43][44]