Sign In
Free Newsletter
Rawlings-Blake: I’m seeking re-election
Don’t read too much into the Sunday political talk show appearances. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she isn’t running for another job and will seek re-election in two years.
Rawlings-Blake, who was initially appointed mayor in 2010 and elected in her own right in 2011, said she will run in 2016 and dismissed speculation about her political ambitions during an interview Tuesday.
“I’m definitely seeking re-election,” Rawlings-Blake said.
She said positions with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Democratic National Committee are platforms to promote Baltimore, not stepping stones toward higher office.
“When I get the opportunities to appear on ‘Meet the Press,’ or ‘Hardball,’ or whatever it is, I use it as an opportunity to promote Baltimore,” Rawlings-Blake said. “So, yes, people ask all of those questions [about political ambitions], and it’s understandable, but my focus is at every turn, ‘How can I use this opportunity to make Baltimore better?’”
During her time as mayor, Rawlings-Blake has experienced political successes, such as pushing a 5 cent bottle tax through the City Council to help pay for school construction. She subsequently lobbied the General Assembly to allow the city to use those funds to help leverage bonds to pay for $1 billion in school construction and improvements during the next decade.
She was also a strong advocate for legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland and appeared in Marylanders for Marriage Equality television ads when that issue was put to voters as a referendum in 2012.
Her administration has also been plagued by issues regarding the city’s faulty speed camera system and a controversy over the procurement of phones for City Hall that Comptroller Joan Pratt alleged was done illegally. She has been criticized at times for focusing on the development of downtown at the expense of the city’s neighborhoods.
Rawlings-Blake, who was City Council president at the time, was appointed mayor in 2010 when former Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned after pleading guilty to perjury and being convicted of embezzlement.
In 2011, Rawlings-Blake won 52 percent of the vote in a crowded Democratic primary against candidates such as state Sen. Catherine Pugh, former Dixon administration member Otis Rolley and former City Councilman Joseph T. “Jody” Landers. She easily won the general election in the heavily Democratic city.
Rawlings-Blake’s term was extended because city voters approved a referendum in 2012 to align city elections with presidential elections in hopes that it will boost turnout and save money by avoiding independent city elections.
