Posted on 11/05/24
| News Source: WBAL
Baltimore, MD - Nov. 5, 2024 - Incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott has won the 2024 General Election for Baltimore mayor, beating Republican candidate Shannon Wright, the Associated Press projects.
Scott, a proponent of reducing crime, investing in Baltimore’s youth and modernizing government, ran for re-election to “continue what he started.”
Now re-elected, Scott has promised his supporters that he will continue to expand on the progress his office has made thus far.
Remaining in office, Scott will have to face the city’s vacancy crisis, public safety concerns, a projected budget deficit and the expiration of Baltimore’s federal pandemic aid.
Scott originally secured the democratic nomination over former mayor, Sheila Dixon, whose tenure was cut short in 2010 after she took a plea deal for misappropriating gift cards meant for poor families.
During his first term, which coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott received criticism for turnover within his administration and COVID-19 restrictions that some considered too stringent and other minor complaints.
Scott announced his reelection bid at a news conference in November 2023 ahead of a packed house of elected leaders, community groups and other supporters at Cahill Recreation Center.
During the announcement, Scott focused on his success as mayor thus far, with the reminder that he has served Baltimore City for over 17 years.
In 2011, Scott was the youngest person to be elected to the Baltimore City Council at age 27 before rising to become city council president in 2019 in the wake of the Mayor Catherine Pugh scandal.
The 40-year-old 52nd mayor of Baltimore has an impressive background in public service and leadership.
Outside his experience in the city, the incumbent mayor was a member of the Young Elected Officials Network (YEO), secretary for the YEO housing and Urban Development cabinet and chair of the National League of City’s large cities council.
During his 2024 campaign, Scott boasted about his public health approach to crime and a subsequent downward trend in homicides and non-fatal shootings.
“(We’ve had) a historic reduction of homicides of 20% last year. No mayor in the history of the city other than me has seen that big of a drop from one year to the next,” Scott told 11 News in May.
Despite the successes spotlighted by Scott, violence in the city remains a critical issue.
In October, the Belair-Edison Safe Streets location was subject to a court-authorized FBI raid with federal agents arriving at the residence of two staff members.
The Safe Streets program, introduced to Baltimore in 2007, is a public health approach that uses trusted messengers in the community to interrupt the transmission of violence.
City residents expressed shock and concern after the raid, questioning the purpose of the program if it faced similar issues as those it aimed to address.
Despite the persisting issue of violence, Scott boasts a record of investment in the city’s young people. He opened 12 school buildings, opened playgrounds and parks, employed more than 6,700 youths through YouthWorks and served 10,000 more in summer programs.
As of late, Scott has been the face of Baltimore in the aftermath of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which left six people dead and closed most maritime traffic through the city’s busy port. It remains to be seen whether that time in the spotlight will help his campaign.
Public safety became a central issue in the 2020 campaign, and it remains a key point of contention this time around.
Baltimore consistently ranks among the nation’s most violent cities, but its homicide rate has fallen significantly over the past several months. Scott cites those reductions as evidence his anti-violence strategies are working, while Dixon emphasizes the importance of policing “quality of life” crimes such as loitering, public urination and drug possession.
Scott has noted his plans for the city as what will be “the best, biggest comeback story this country has ever seen.”
WBALTV.com presented opportunities for each candidate to participate in answering six questions, ranging from public safety to development to the budget deficit and improving the city’s public perception. Here are Scott’s responses to each question:
The mayor pointed to his creation of a comprehensive violence prevention plan to reduce homicides by partnering with the community through the Group Violence Reduction Strategy to support residents most likely to be the victim or perpetrator of gun violence. The city is also pursuing people who are trafficking guns into the city, as well as companies that are helping to fuel the gun supply.
Build community violence intervention up in the city so that the community themselves, those that are impacted, will be involved in reducing violence.
In addition to the community, a whole of city services needs to be involved to include police and health partners.
Police are focused on arresting violent offenders and holding them accountable through reforms made by the governor and the General Assembly.
Intentionally focus on individuals who are the most likely to be the victim or the perpetrator of these actions and providing them with services.
Continue to support the Thrive Program, which works with families and youths on crime prevention.
If youths have a support system, the city can help rehabilitate them. There are cases where a young person has to be held accountable by finishing out their sentence and helping to rehabilitate them and support their families and whoever else is around them.
Legislation that passed in Annapolis will help to share data about specific groups of young people so that the city can create intensive case management for them, giving them opportunities to change their lives akin to how adults are supported through the Group Violence Reduction Strategy. Otherwise, youths need to be held accountable if they choose to continue to operate in a life of crime.
“We have to reimagine what the inner harbor is.” The mayor supports the redevelopment plan because Harborplace is the city’s frontline view to the world that has been “caving in on itself for decades.” The mayor pointed to his administration’s push for receivership to get Harborplace out of the hands of owners “who clearly didn’t care about the Inner Harbor or Baltimore as a whole and get it into the hands of someone who truly understood it, the city of Baltimore.”
The promenade needs to be changed because climate change is affecting the water level.
The mayor said the plan creates more public space and will have value for Baltimore to make sure that Baltimore businesses, Baltimore restaurants, Baltimore clothing companies are there.
“We need people living there.” The mayor said downtown is the city’s fastest-growing residential neighborhood and that having people live downtown will help support businesses.
The mayor introduced his budget proposal at the beginning of April without tax increases or service cuts, saying: “I didn’t balance the budget on the backs of working-class Baltimoreans.”
The mayor said his plan overcomes a $100 million budget deficit without closing any rec centers, without closing any fire station and without cutting any services.
“This budget puts record amounts of funding into our schools’ funds, public safety funds, recreation and parks funds, basic services, and allows the city to continue to move forward without balancing the budget on the backs of the very people who need those services,” the mayor said.
The mayor said tourism is coming back to Baltimore, particularly with the rebirth of what is now the CFG Bank Arena as one of the top venues in the country.
“Folks are coming into the city because we are changing the perception of Baltimore by doing the tough work,” the mayor said.
Work is underway to continue reductions in homicides, address the squeegee issue, reduce vacant housing and improve the economy.
“We want folks to get on the train now — getting on with Baltimore before we become the next big thing isn’t going to last too long and the seats will all be full for everyone who wants to live in a city that values its true history, that values this culture, that values all people, that wants to invest in the people first,” the mayor said.