Midday's series of Conversations with the Candidates continues with this special Web-only edition: Tom's January 14 conversation with Dante Swinton. He is one of more than a dozen Democratic candidates vying in the April 28th primary election, hoping to become the party's nominee for mayor of Baltimore in the November 2020 general election.

Mr. Swinton brings to the mayoral race his experience as an environmental justice researcher & community organizer for Energy Justice Network, where he has worked for the past five years. The Philadelphia-based not-for-profit group led the charge for passage last spring of the Baltimore Clean Air Act, which, pending a ruling in a federal law suit, could severely restrict or possibly shut down the city's largest air polluter, the Wheelabrator trash incinerator, and the nation's largest medical waste incinerator.

Mr. Swinton's mayoral campaign also addresses a wide range of issues facing the city, from violence reduction and criminal justice reform to transit and waste management improvements and economic development.

Mr. Swinton grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He received his B.A. in environmental studies and political science from Winthrop University in Rock Hill in 2010. He received his Masters in nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship from the University of Baltimore in 2017.

At 31, Dante Swinton is the youngest candidate in the mayor's race. He lives in Baltimore.

More information about Dante Swinton's bid to become Baltimore's next mayor can be found on his campaign Website, dcs4bmore.org.

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