Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon to run again in 2024, apologizes again for crimes that forced her from office

For the third time since she left office amid scandal in 2010, former Mayor Sheila Dixon will once again be a candidate for Baltimore’s top job.

In an op-ed published Thursday by The Baltimore Sun, Dixon confirmed that she’ll announce her candidacy during a news conference scheduled for 11 a.m. in Druid Heights in West Baltimore. Dixon made the news at the end of the op-ed, following an apology for the crimes that forced her from office.

“I recognize that for some of you it may be impossible to overlook my prior mistakes,” Dixon wrote, addressing her open letter to Baltimore. “I am writing today to ask that you open your hearts and minds to give me the opportunity to demonstrate my commitment to Baltimore City and my passion for ensuring it thrives.”

She closes the letter, “With love, Sheila.”

Dixon enters a 2024 Democratic primary race that, unlike her last two bids for the office, has attracted little interest. Mayor Brandon Scott, a former City Council president in his first four-year mayoral term, has been one of the few candidates to say he is running. Others who briefly flirted with bids, including city Comptroller Bill Henry, ultimately decided not to get in.

Former Democratic mayoral candidate and Baltimore state’s attorney contender Thiru Vignarajah has refused to rule out another run, although he insists he is not thinking about the race.

Robert Wallace, an independent candidate for mayor in 2020, said he will run as a Democrat in 2024. Two relatively unknown Democrats, Wendy Bozel and Wendell Hill-Freeman, have filed to run with the Maryland Board of Elections.

Candidates have a Feb. 9 deadline to file for the May 14 primary.

Dixon’s candidacy seemed all but assured for months ahead of her Thursday announcement. The former mayor has remained visible, moderating and appearing on town hall panels along with new Democratic State’s Attorney Ivan Bates. She’s been a frequent guest on WBAL-AM, and after her remarks in June during an appearance on WBFF-TV (Fox45) was essentially declared a candidate by the station. She later told The Sun she remained undecided.

The 2024 race will be Dixon’s third consecutive bid for mayor, a statistic that would be enough to dissuade some would-be candidates. But Dixon is not just any candidate. Her last two efforts ended in close second-place finishes, the product of a loyal base undeterred by her checkered past.

In 2010, the then-mayor was found guilty of embezzling gift cards meant for the poor. As part of a plea agreement to a perjury charge in the case, she resigned as mayor, was on probation for four years and could not seek office during that time.

In 2016, with the charges still fresh in voters’ minds, Dixon nevertheless ran a competitive primary. She collected 34.7% of the vote, just shy of winner Catherine Pugh’s 36.6%. Pugh would later resign from office amid her own scandal involving the sale of self-published children’s books.

In 2020, Dixon emerged from a 24-candidate field to again place as runner-up, this time to Scott. Scott received 29.6% of the vote to Dixon’s 27.5% — a 3,100-vote difference.

Mileah Kromer, a pollster and associate professor of political science at Goucher College, said Dixon will present a formidable challenge for Scott.

“Here’s somebody who may have lost these last two election cycles, but man, she was close,” Kromer said. “Had a couple things changed or things gone a slightly different way, she could have easily been the mayor right now.”

Dixon’s past campaigns sought to emphasize her success in driving down the city’s homicide rate, a point of pride for the former mayor. When she was in office from 2007 to 2010, the annual homicide count in Baltimore dropped from 282 to 238 and arrests declined.

That figure is markedly lower than the 300 deaths the city has experienced each year since 2015. So far this year, however, the city is on pace for its lowest homicide total in years.

The decline in arrests during Dixon’s tenure coincided with a move away from the “zero tolerance” policing of her predecessor, Democrat Martin O’Malley. Dixon appointed Frederick H. Bealefeld III commissioner, plucking him from the department’s ranks in her first year in office. Bealefeld pushed a more targeted arrest policy.

Dixon’s past campaigns also tried to sell residents on her reputation as a competent city manager, arguing that her experience, along with her record on fighting crime, should be enough for voters to forgive her for the scandal that forced her from office.

Dixon’s 2016 campaign, too, began on an apologetic note. In the letter she submitted to The Sun for publication Thursday, she said she has been told her prior efforts to apologize have “fallen short.”

“I write to you today to eliminate all ambiguity or questions of where I stand and have stood since I left office,” she wrote. “I let matters of the heart lead me astray once before, and for that, and the pain that it caused to my beloved Baltimore, I am truly sorry. I hope the people realize that my love for the future of Baltimore outweighs the mistakes of my past. I hope that you can accept my apology and work with me to turn our city around for our future generations who deserve a better Baltimore.”

In addition to the charges Dixon faced related to the gift cards, she was also initially charged with perjury for allegedly lying about gifts a developer gave her when they dated — apparently the matters of the heart that Dixon referred to. Those charges were later dropped.

As she has done in the past, the former mayor stressed Thursday in her letter that her conviction was a misdemeanor.

Neighborhood leader Marvin “Doc” Cheatham said he thinks more Baltimoreans are prepared to forgive Dixon than in years past. Residents who Cheatham said he has spoken to view Dixon’s crime as less harmful to the public, particularly in light of Pugh’s downfall.

“I don’t think folks think she intended to do harm,” he said of Dixon. “Baltimore is a very forgiving city. Many of us are God-fearing people. We know none of us are perfect.”

Dixon’s announcement Thursday comes at a critical time for fundraising. Thus far, Scott holds a distinct advantage: he had more than $450,000 in the bank at the time of the most recent required state campaign fundraising report in January, after raising about $250,000 during 2022. Dixon’s campaign committee reported less than $5,000 in on hand, with no money raised last year.

The sums lag well behind what will likely have to be spent to win the race. The 2020 primary victory cost Scott more than $984,000. Dixon spent about $742,000.

However, Dixon will have the backing of a super political action committee registered in July in support of he candidacy. The Better Baltimore super PAC lists as its campaign manager Tyler Senecharles, an account manager with Baltimore communications and campaign consultants Adeo Advocacy. To date, the PAC has filed no statements detailing contributions.