There’s an old saying about madness, and it was Shannon Wright, not a reporter, who evoked it.

“We all know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome,” the Republican mayoral candidate said during a recent interview.

Wright, 57, was referring to the idea that city voters may return her opponent Mayor Brandon Scott to office for a second term. But the cliche could just as easily be self-referential.

Wright’s 2024 bid for mayor is her second for the city’s top political office and third consecutive, if you count an ill-fated run for City Council president in 2016. Each time she’s run as a Republican. Last go-round in the fall of 2020, she was handily defeated by none other than Scott, her Democratic opponent again this year.

To say the odds are stacked against Republicans in cobalt blue Baltimore does little justice to the political landscape.

The registration advantage for Democrats is monumental — they outnumber Republicans 10-to-1. It’s been decades since a Republican has been able to gain a foothold in Baltimore. A Republican mayor hasn’t served since the exit of Theodore McKeldin in 1967, and it’s been decades longer for the City Council presidency — no Republican has held that position since the body was restructured in the 1920s.

Still, Republicans continue to throw their hats in the ring for Baltimore’s top offices. In addition to Wright, November ballots include a matchup between Republican Emmanuel Digman and Democratic Councilman Zeke Cohen for the council presidency. Cohen is heavily favored to win.

Three Republicans are also running for City Council seats: Andy Zipay is taking on Democrat Danielle McCray in East Baltimore’s 2nd District; Christopher Michael Anderson is challenging Democrat James Torrence in West Baltimore’s 7th District; and Alexander Artis is running against Democrat Antonio Glover in East Baltimore’s 13th District. A Green Party candidate, Renaud Brown, is challenging Democrat Odette Ramos in North Baltimore’s 14th District.

Viewed cynically, the citywide GOP campaigns may look like attention grabs or opportunities to puff up egos, but from a societal perspective, Baltimore’s lesser-known candidates are fulfilling a purpose, argued Mileah Kromer, a pollster and director of the UMBC Institute of Politics. Ideally, no election would go uncontested, she said. Republicans offer a choice.

During their brief moments in the sun, some Republican candidates have managed to raise money and bring attention to issues like deficits or property taxes that might otherwise be ignored in heavily Democratic Baltimore, Kromer said.

“It’s a rare chance to shine a light on them,” she said.

For Wright, a pastor at Faith, Grace and Mercy Ministries who lives in Northeast Baltimore, that agenda is centered on education and juvenile justice reform. If the voters of Baltimore were to make a surprise selection of Wright, she said she would use her appointments on the school board to push for the ouster of Baltimore Schools CEO Sonja Santelises. Wright wants to see more enforcement of existing truancy laws and the institution of community schools offering family-oriented classes before and after traditional school hours.

It’s an agenda that has barely seen the light of day even after Wright bested two other candidates for the Republican nomination in May. Unlike her 2020 campaign, when Wright established an office, paid volunteers, distributed fliers and received donations from notable state Republicans — including Michael Steele, Dirk Haire and U.S. Rep. Andy Harris — this cycle she hasn’t raised or spent more than $1,000, according to affidavits filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Without campaign infrastructure or an operational website, Wright’s social media postings have been one of the few windows into her bid. Over the summer, her Facebook account was populated by election-related posts — but for an entirely different contest.

“OK folks I really need your help,” she posted in July. “Baltimore needs these votes.”

That contest was a best chef competition benefitting the James Beard Foundation. Wright, a former professional baker who once had a cookie distribution deal with 7-Eleven, said she entered in hopes of using the proceeds to attack food insecurity in Baltimore.

Wright pointed to family health issues as a roadblock to her official campaign. She’s currently on a sabbatical from her pastor position to care for her ailing husband. Her campaign manager from her 2020 bid has since died, she said.

Still, Wright said she persisted with her mayoral run, knowing the abysmal odds.

“I’m not oblivious to the numbers,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere, regardless to the outcome on Election Day. I’m still going to be here, raising different issues.”

Catalina Byrd, a Republican who ran for Baltimore mayor in 2020 and came in second to Wright, said she’s seen a shift in the candidates who have run as Republicans in the era of former President Donald Trump. The priority has become ballot access, rather than traditional Republican principles, said Byrd, who considers herself an exception as a third-generation Republican.

“It’s a way to take shots at the throne,” she said.

A particular personality type does, however, seem drawn to the quixotic campaigns, Byrd said. She described it as a mixture of arrogance and craziness.

“You have to really want this,” she said. “If you’re going to do it right, it takes so much time.”

A bit more visible than Wright this election cycle has been Digman, the Republican candidate for City Council president. Like Wright, Digman, 64, a Curtis Bay resident, is not making his first run for office. In 2022, he challenged Democratic State Senate President Bill Ferguson, collecting just 15% of votes to Ferguson’s 85%.

Digman, who did not respond to repeated requests for interviews from The Baltimore Banner, has reported spending a very modest amount on his campaign — less than $600, according to campaign finance reports. The total was enough to buy signs that have dotted city overpasses and a campaign website that calls for lowering the tax rate, conducting a forensic audit of Baltimore’s finances, and improvements to schools, housing and workforce development.

“Emmanuel Digman is a political candidate who stands for God, Family, Country and Baltimore,” his website reads.

So does the current crop of candidates have a prayer of overcoming the incredible odds? Kromer said it would take an “extraordinary candidate” to compensate for the structural disadvantages faced by Baltimore Republicans.

Kromer pointed to businessman Bob Wallace, a former Republican and self-funded candidate who ran for mayor in 2020 and 2024 under different party banners.

“Even someone like Bob Wallace who had some money as an independent candidate, what did he do the next cycle?” she asked. “He ran as a Democrat.”