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Government & Politics

Ex-Mayor Dixon Won’t Run for State Senate

Former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) has opted against running for the state Senate this year.

In a post on her Facebook page, Dixon said she was not yet ready to return to the political arena after an intensive attempt to win her old job back in 2016.

Dixon

Ex-Baltimore Mayor Sheila A. Dixon

“I have come to realize that I am not yet ready to put my family through another grueling political campaign,” Dixon said in the statement, later adding, “There’s an unseen amount of stress and nasty discourse that comes with a candidate such as myself running for office, and I am not prepared to take on that battle at this time.”

With the candidate filing deadline fast approaching – it’s at 9 p.m. Tuesday – there is only one challenger in the 41st District so far to state Sen. Nathaniel T. Oaks (D), who is under federal indictment on multiple corruption charges. J.D. Merrill, a 27-year-old former teacher and son-in-law of ex-Gov. Martin J. O’Malley (D), is already running.

With Dixon out of the picture, eyes now turn to former Del. Jill P. Carter (D), who is pondering the race. Carter stepped down from the House a year ago to join the administration of current Mayor Catherine E. Pugh (D).

Dixon, Baltimore’s first female mayor, who resigned in 2010 after admitting to accepting gifts from a developer and pocketing gift cards meant for the city’s poor children, said she was “extremely concerned as to who will step up in the coming days and weeks, to lead our district out of despair and into prosperity.”

The former mayor and city council president, who lost the 2016 Democratic primary to Pugh by less than 2 points, did not rule out a future run for office.

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Ex-Mayor Dixon Won’t Run for State Senate