Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott defeated former Mayor Sheila Dixon in last Tuesday’s Democrat mayoral primary, all but ensuring his reelection in November.
Dixon, who served as mayor from 2007 to 2010, was indicted in 2009 on 12 counts, including theft, misconduct, and perjury. She was convicted in December 2009 of embezzlement and was sentenced to probation in exchange for resigning from office. Dixon was also barred from seeking office for two years.
Dixon ran for mayor twice before since she stepped down in disgrace, and last September, she announced in an op-ed that she was running again.
In a victory speech to supporters Tuesday night, Mayor Scott, who took office in 2021, declared his win a “mandate to double down and work harder.”
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary, Scott made himself the face of Baltimore in response to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
However, the central issue of the primary was public safety as Baltimore continues to rank as one of the country’s most violent cities. Scott cited the significant decline in homicides as proof that his anti-violence policies were working.
Meanwhile, the 70-year-old Dixon painted herself as the more experienced and competent candidate, insisting that she had a proven track record of helping the city address the needs of Baltimore’s most vulnerable residents. Dixon also noted during the campaign that the homicide rate dropped during her brief tenure as mayor and emphasized the importance of addressing “quality of life” crimes like drug possession and loitering.
Tuesday’s primary was called for Scott with 70 percent of the votes counted when the mayor held a 5,000 vote advantage over Dixon.
However, Dixon refused to concede the race, saying she would wait until all of the city’s 14,000 outstanding mail-in ballots had been counted.
She told her supporters that she was “not giving up” and vowed that the race was not over “until it’s over.”
