Sheila Dixon says this is her last mayoral run: ‘Three times is the charm — or three strikes, I’m out’
According to former Baltimore mayor and current mayoral candidate Sheila Dixon, the 2024 election cycle is her last hurrah.
“This is it. I made it very clear,” said Dixon, 70, who, once again, is campaigning for the Democratic nomination to serve as Baltimore’s mayor. “Three times is the charm — or three strikes, I’m out.”
That’s what she said when she narrowly lost the Democratic nomination for mayor in 2020, too.
A Baltimore native and graduate of city schools, Dixon was the first woman to become mayor of Baltimore when then-Mayor Martin O’Malley, a fellow Democrat, left the role following his successful 2006 bid for governor. She was elected in her own right in 2008, but was forced from office due to public corruption charges in 2010.
This year’s primary has a crowded field. But Mayor Brandon Scott and Dixon are at the top as she seeks to reclaim the seat she lost. On the eve of the early voting period Wednesday, her bid may have been strengthened by attorney Thiru Vignarajah, who ended his campaign and endorsed her.
“Choosing to step up out of this race is evidence of your love for Baltimore,” Dixon said of Vignarajah at a news conference announcing his exit from the race Wednesday.
Scott bested Dixon in 2020 by just over 3,100 votes, while Catherine Pugh beat her in 2016 by less than 2,500 votes. The 2024 race also appears to be tight. A poll of likely primary voters conducted April 7-10 for The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 and the University of Baltimore found that 38% favored Scott to 35% for Dixon.
Dixon has remained confident, as she demonstrated during a news conference Monday when Baltimore Sheriff Sam Cogen endorsed her and deemed Scott someone uninterested in the work of Cogen’s agency.
“The bottom line is that, whoever is mayor — which I know I’m going to be — he’s made a commitment to this,” Dixon said of Cogen’s dedication to public safety. “That’s why he ran.”
Cogen became the second high-profile public safety official in the city to endorse Dixon. State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, a Democrat who engaged in a public spat with Scott regarding their philosophical differences in combating violent crime, also supports the former mayor.
While applauding Dixon’s track record regarding public safety, Cogen said he hadn’t had a “meaningful conversation” with Scott in three months.
“She understands that we do our communities a huge disservice when we let crime get out of control and we let people become afraid,” Cogen said of Dixon. “She will fix it, and I believe that, under the right leadership, we can keep neighborhoods safe and, at the same time, not violate people’s rights.”
Dixon’s platform revolves around public safety and the reduction of violent crime, which has been on the decline under Scott’s administration.
Baltimore Councilman Eric Costello, a Democrat representing the 11th District, credited the recent decline to U.S. Attorney Erek Barron, who he said has “taken a very aggressive approach” to cracking down on organized crime, and to Bates, who has focused on quality-of-life offenses and a citation docket to reduce petty crime.
“When you hear folks like State’s Attorney Ivan Bates or city Sheriff Sam Cogen talk about needing a partner to execute their strategy and to be able to work with, I think that’s critically important — and you’re not hearing it from just one person,” said Costello, who endorsed Dixon.
Earlier this year, Dixon rolled out a public safety plan that would revive strategies she implemented as mayor when she moved the city away from O’Malley’s “zero-tolerance” policy.
Baltimore saw historically low homicide rates under Dixon’s administration. Her 2024 plan calls for coordination among city, state and federal law enforcement, re-strategizing officer recruitment and retention, investment in youth diversion programs, expanded diversion for adults, familiarizing officers with the communities they police, and working with a Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, which was created while she was mayor.
The committee of city, state and federal law enforcement agency leaders periodically convenes to discuss public safety. Former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, cut funding for the committee in 2017 after city judges on the panel declined to meet with him. It was reinstated by Scott in 2021, but without the judges.
“What you’ve heard is that these folks — like the state’s attorney and the sheriff that are duly elected and are looking for a strong partner in the mayor’s office — they don’t have it right now,” said Costello. “But they see Sheila Dixon as someone who can be a strong partner, and that’s not just based off of the things that she’s said. It’s based off a demonstrable track record of really being laser-focused on crime and driving crime down.”
Costello and Dixon met when they served on a board for the Bethel Empowerment and Wellness Center in Marble Hill. They both spoke at a public safety town hall FOX45 hosted last fall.
Dixon is backed by a political action committee, the Better Baltimore PAC, which is largely funded by David Smith. He is the chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group and co-owner of The Baltimore Sun.
As of April 25, Smith’s PAC has put $606,000 toward Dixon’s 2024 campaign.
Dixon’s political career spans nearly 40 years, including 20 on the City Council — seven as the first woman to serve as council president — and three as mayor. She has amassed a network of the politically connected along the way, touting a connection to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore before he entered public office.
Moore has not endorsed a candidate in Baltimore’s mayoral primary election.
Dixon also has a working relationship with members of the General Assembly.
Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat representing South Baltimore, was a part-time community liaison under Dixon when she was council president, and a special assistant to the chief executive officer for the Baltimore City Public School System when she was mayor.
Baltimore Sen. Antonio Hayes, a Democrat, worked as her director of legislative affairs while she was council president and as assistant deputy mayor of administration during her time as mayor.
“I can go down a list of people that are now public officials at the state level that, if it wasn’t for my efforts and commitment with working with young people, they might not be in the positions that they’re in,” said Dixon.
Neither Ferguson or Hayes have endorsed a candidate in the city’s mayoral primary election.
Though her political career is replete with accomplishment, it’s also blighted by scandal.
Around the time she became mayor, the Maryland state prosecutor investigated Dixon’s personal relationship with developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, who was involved in multiple city development projects awarded while she was council president.
Additionally, in violation of city ethics rules, Dixon did not abstain from multiple votes that awarded nearly $1 million to Union Technologies LLC, where her sister, Janice, was a manager. She also awarded no-bid contracts to her former campaign manager and employed her sister as an office aide.
Dixon was indicted in 2009 on 12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office related both to more than $15,000 in gifts she allegedly received from Lipscomb while she was council president, and for using up to $3,400 in gift cards — some intended for needy families — for herself and her staff.
Dixon’s initial charges were thrown out for technical reasons, and she was re-indicted on theft and perjury charges.
Lipscomb was not charged in Dixon’s case, but was indicted in a separate bribery scheme.
She was convicted of embezzlement in late 2009, and accepted a plea agreement for the perjury charges in early 2010. Dixon was ordered to resign, perform 500 hours of community service, donate $45,000 to charity and was barred from seeking or holding any city or state office for two years.
Dixon has apologized for her transgressions with each mayoral bid.
In recent years, Baltimore has seen misconduct among a handful of its politicians. Former state Sen. Nathaniel T. Oakes was convicted for corruption charges in 2018, followed by Pugh, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2019, as did former state Del. Cheryl Glenn in 2020. Former State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby is awaiting sentencing for mortgage fraud and perjury.
Dixon isn’t concerned that such scandals disrupt her chances of winning her last shot at City Hall.
“I have made it very clear to the public that I am going to be transparent, straightforward and honest,” Dixon said Monday. “From the time I left office, I never stopped giving back to the community, and I will continue to do that.”
This is the last in a series of articles about the leading candidates for mayor.