Alan Walden

Alan Walden

Republican Party

Contact

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Alan Walden was a candidate for mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. Walden was defeated in the general election on November 8, 2016.

Campaign themes

2016

Walden's campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:

“	A city, any city, is more than just geographical boundaries, buildings, commerce and industry. Most important are the people who must be better served by those they choose to represent and lead them. Inspired, imaginative, and scrupulously honest leadership is most important of all. Ask a dozen people how that leadership can best be provided and you’re likely to get a dozen different answers. Here’s mine: First, understand what government is supposed to do and, by extension what it is not supposed to do. As the philosopher-essayist Henry David Thoreau once observed, “Government that governs least governs best.” An overstatement, perhaps – but he wasn’t far from wrong. Government cannot and should not do everything. It can’t provide everything, it can’t satisfy everyone, and it shouldn’t try. If it does, the result will be demands for more until there is no more to give and no one is satisfied. Secondly, abandon the myth of motivation. It has been my experience that it is virtually impossible to motivate anyone else because motivation comes from within; each individual must decide to motivate himself/herself. Encourage? Yes. Inspire? Yes. Motivate? No. And before you assume a difference without a distinction understand that encouragement and inspiration imply attitude. Motivation, on the other and, implies action. The job of government, therefore, is to create a structure that encourages such action; an environment in which people motivate themselves to take whatever action is needed to improve the human condition. Next, understand the concept. In the beak of the eagle on the Great Seal of the United States is a ribbon on one side of which are the words “e pluribus” and, on the other, “unum” – from many, one. It’s the “unum,” the one, which is most important. Baltimore is a city of great diversity; racial, social, economic, cultural, and religious. It’s a city of neighborhoods many of which cling to the ideas and traditions they brought from other places. But Baltimore is also one city with one people all of whom, whatever their goals and aspirations, whatever their backgrounds, should be committed to not only themselves but to each other. Only leadership that understands that can lead well – lead Baltimore away from an ultimately destructive path of tribalism, separatism, and suspicion and toward the “unum” that will benefit all. The next step is to offload the anger. There’s nothing to be gained by being angry all the time. Anger clouds judgment and often leads to action that is violently counterproductive. What’s needed, in place of anger, is civil discourse and a willingness to employ reason and understanding to find a solution to the variety of issues and problems extant in the Baltimore of 2016 – poverty, housing, jobs, education, violence in the streets, drugs, an aging infrastructure, transportation, taxes that are too high, et al. The words “problem” and “issue,” by the way, are not synonymous though they are often used interchangeably in this era of political correctness. A problem requires solution; an issue requires discussion. Baltimore has both and an Alan Walden administration will deal with both in order of priority – the problems first. Which brings us to the issue of victimhood and its all-too-often acceptance as a way of life. It isn’t. It’s a circumstance to be overcome. Granted, it’s not easy to stop feeling like a victim when, for generations, you’ve been told that’s what you are and that your chances of escaping its grasp are minimal at best. But you can escape. Just as you may have been taught to fail you can learn to succeed. Often, it requires nothing more than the self-motivation mentioned earlier and a refusal to give up. Anger won’t work. But determination will. And running parallel to victimhood is the logical absurdity of equality. No one really wants to be equal to anyone else. They want to be better: Better than they are, better than their parents, better than their siblings, better than their neighbors, better than their friends. They want better jobs, better cars, better homes, a better life; better everything. All which can be achieved though not in equal measure by everyone. Nor is it the job of government or its leadership to ensure equality. What IS required of government is to pursue equality of opportunity for everyone. Finally, we must deal with the matter of attitude and perception. It’s long past time for Baltimore to overcome its image as a whistle stop on the right-of-way between New York or Philadelphia and Washington, DC. We can no longer allow ourselves to be defined by television series like “The Wire” or employed as a punch line by late night comics. Baltimore is a great city, one of the oldest major urban centers in the country. Founded more than three centuries ago, incorporated as John Adams became President of the United States, it is home to the birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner, has a world renowned orchestra and excellent theaters, the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in the country, the first common carrier railroad, one of the nation’s busiest seaports, restaurants recently judged to be among the best in the nation, fine museums and other cultural attractions, and an Inner Harbor that is the envy of cities twice its size. But this isn’t about history – it isn’t even about the future. It’s about Baltimore in 2016. It’s about Baltimore now! It’s not about restoring Baltimore’s past glory or envisioning it as it may be. It’s about new leadership that embraces Baltimore as it is with the integrity, purpose, and commitment worthy of it. As I mentioned earlier Baltimore is a great city! It’s about time it started behaving like one. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the greatest and, arguably, the most brilliant Presidents of the United States once observed that at a time of decision, “the worst thing to do is nothing.” For me, it is not an option.	”
—Alan Walden (2016),

Elections

2016

The following candidates ran in the Baltimore mayoral election.

Baltimore Mayoral Election (2016), General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Catherine Pugh	57.61%	134,848
	Democratic	Sheila Dixon (write-in)	22.10%	51,716
	Republican	Alan Walden	9.96%	23,316
	Green	Joshua Harris	9.89%	23,155
	Unaffiliated	LaVern Murray (write-in)	0.02%	46
	Independent	Frank Logan (write-in)	0.01%	33
	Unaffiliated	Sarah Klauda (write-in)	0.01%	25
	Democratic	Mack Clifton (write-in)	0.01%	23
	Republican	Steven Smith (write-in)	0.00%	8
		Write-in votes	0.38%	885
Total Votes				234,055
Source: State of Maryland Board of Elections, "Official 2016 Presidential General Election results for Baltimore City," accessed September 9, 2019

Alan Walden defeated Larry Wardlow, Jr., Brian Charles Vaeth, Armand Girard, and Chancellor Torbit in the Republican primary of the Baltimore mayoral election.

Baltimore Mayoral Election (2016), Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Alan Walden	41.41%	3,069
	Republican	Larry Wardlow, Jr.	18.46%	1,368
	Republican	Brian Charles Vaeth	16.48%	1,221
	Republican	Armand Girard	12.06%	894
	Republican	Chancellor Torbit	11.59%	859
Total Votes				7,411
Source: Maryland State Board of Elections, "Official 2016 Presidential Primary Election results for Baltimore City," May 31, 2016

Recent news

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Alan Walden - Google News

See also

• Baltimore, Maryland
• Municipal elections in Baltimore, Maryland (2016)
• United States municipal elections, 2016

External links

Suggest a link

• Campaign website
• Maryland State Board of Elections - Official candidate list