Scott, Dixon continue campaigning on last day of primary voting in Maryland
The race pits incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott against former Mayor Sheila Dixon, a rematch of their 2020 contest that put Scott in office.
The candidates for Baltimore mayor made their last campaign stops Tuesday and cast their ballots with less than 24 hours remaining before the end of voting in the mayoral race.
The race pits incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott against former Mayor Sheila Dixon, a rematch of their 2020 contest that put Scott in office.
This time, the field is half the size of the crowded 2020 race and the upper tier of candidates has shrunk. Former prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah dropped out of the race in the first week of May, less than 24 hours ahead of the start of early voting. Businessman Bob Wallace, an independent candidate for mayor in 2020, ran this time as a Democrat, but failed to gain traction.
A poll conducted in April for The Baltimore Sun, University of Baltimore and FOX45 showed Scott and Dixon to be the locked in a tight race with all others lagging far behind.
Dixon and Scott both opted to cast their ballots in person Tuesday morning, Dixon near her Hunting Ridge home in West Baltimore and Scott in his Northeast Baltimore neighborhood. Dixon said she was “at peace” as she entered her polling place at Thomas Jefferson Elementary. Scott carried 5-month-old son Charm Scott nestled in a car seat into his poll at Engine House 56.
Scott later campaigned at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School in Northeast Baltimore. Despite a slight drizzle, the mayor remained cheerful, speaking with voters and joking with fellow politicos including Democratic state Sen. Cory McCray.
Dixon was scheduled to watch results later Tuesday at her campaign headquarters in Old Goucher. Scott will gather with supporters at Baltimore Peninsula.
Results, which will not be released until after polls close at 8 p.m., will include ballots cast by voters in person on Election Day and during early voting as well as about 11,700 mail-in ballots from Democratic voters that were canvassed by the Baltimore City Board of Elections ahead of Election Day. At least 13,500 additional ballots remained to be counted as of Monday. Baltimore elections officials said they did not expect to resume canvassing mail-in ballots until Thursday.
Voters at the polls today in Maryland’s primary election | PHOTOS
The 2024 mayoral contest like many before it has been heavily focused on crime. Scott has touted the city’s reduction in homicides in 2023 — fewer than 300 people were killed for the first time in nearly a decade. Dixon argued Scott has focused only on the city’s homicide rate, allowing quality-of-life crimes to go unaddressed and chasing residents from the city.
Scott, 40, and Dixon, 70, represent different generations of City Hall leadership, but at times their plans have converged. Dixon’s crime plan, rolled out in January, calls for a focused deterrence model of policing which would attempt to identify violent offenders and offer social supports in an effort to redirect them. Scott has implemented a similar program known as the Group Violence Reduction Strategy during his time in office. That approach, piloted in the Western District and since expanded, aims to intercept those vulnerable to becoming shooters or victims and provide social supports. The mayor credits it in part for the reduction in homicides.
Both Scott and Dixon’s housing plans call for Tax Increment Financing or TIFs to be used in various city neighborhoods to address vacant properties.
Some political heavy-hitters have thrown their support behind both candidates, wagering political capital on the close race. Democratic State’s Attorney Ivan Bates joined Dixon’s cause, endorsing the former mayor and calling Scott out for what Bates said was a lack of partnership between the prosecutor’s office and Scott’s City Hall. Sheriff Sam Cogen, too, said Scott has failed to be a partner to his office.
U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen have both backed Scott as have numerous labor unions who represent city employees. Some, like the unions representing the city’s firefighters, took shots at Dixon’s treatment of the fire department during her time in office. Local labor unions backed a PAC that has supported Scott with voter outreach and online advertising.
Scott has led in fundraising and spending in the race, dropping almost $1 million on the contest since the start of the year. Dixon has spent $653,100 since January. A PAC supporting Dixon’s campaign (funded in large part David Smith, a co-owner of The Baltimore Sun and chairman of Sinclair Broadcasting Group) supplemented Dixon’s effort, running ads that try to paint Scott as an inexperienced leader. Scott’s ads seek to remind residents of Dixon’s criminal past. She was forced to leave office in 2010 after an embezzlement conviction.
The eventual results of the race may have tightened following Vignarajah’s exit. Running his fourth campaign for citywide office in the last seven years, Vignarajah threw his support to Dixon after conversations with the camps of both leading contenders. Scott said afterward that Vignarajah asked to be named police chief or CEO of city schools in exchange for his support. Dixon has said no deal was made with Vignarajah for a job, although she has declined to discuss potential positions in her administration that he may have suggested. Vignarajah said he offered to be “helpful” to the Dixon administration.
Baltimore Sun reporter Dan Belson contributed to this article.
This article will be updated.