Posted on 04/11/24
| News Source: WBAL TV
Baltimore, MD - Apr. 11, 2024 - A political expert says Baltimore City's race for city council president will be competitive, but one candidate might have an early edge.
New campaign finance reports show Councilman Zeke Cohen holds the lead in fundraising.
University of Maryland Baltimore County political science professor Ian Anson said he sees the Democratic primary for Baltimore City mayor as a race between two early leaders, but the City Council president race has Cohen with a few things going in his favor.
Cohen has nearly $481,000 in cash on hand.
Former councilwoman Shannon Sneed has about $237,000 on hand.
Incumbent City Council President Nick Mosby has $230,000 on hand, but told 11 News there were errors in the report filed Tuesday night and that an amended report will be filed Wednesday. A spokesperson for the campaign said its cash on hand figure should remain the same.
"This is going to be a hotly contested race, and I think the spending totals reflect that," Anson said. "The Zeke Cohen campaign's overall fundraising totals and cash on hand seem to indicate a pretty strong, healthy campaign. We've also seen a number of pretty interesting endorsements of the Cohen campaign come out pretty recently."
Cohen has received endorsements from teachers' unions, Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates and City Comptroller Bill Henry. Anson said that support shows he has a diverse coalition backing him.
"A lot of people who understand who these actors are that are making the endorsements and who trust those actors are going to take those endorsements seriously," Anson said.
As the incumbent, Mosby holds an advantage as well, according to Anson.
"Incumbents obviously have very powerful advantages in elections, but (Mosby has been) kind of dogged by a number of different sort of negative stories in the news cycle," he said.
Anson acknowledged a frustrating limitation with the City Council president campaign cycle.
"The polling at this present moment just simply doesn't exist," he said.
He believes any additional endorsements from big names in the final weeks of the race could play a big role in who comes out on top.