Democrats sweep Baltimore City Council
Democrats appeared poised to sweep contests for the City Council as the votes were being counted, an expected outcome of Tuesday's election that would cement a younger, greener and potentially more progressive panel of legislators to represent Baltimore for the next four years.
The Democratic dominance across Baltimore's 15 City Council seats comes as no surprise in deep blue Baltimore, where a Republican hasn't won a citywide office since the 1960s . The makeup of this new City Council has been clear since the Democratic primary in May, and only five members had challengers in Tuesday's general election.
Democratic nominee for City Council president Zeke Cohen declared victory over his Republican opponent Emmanuel Digman, a resident of Curtis Bay who raised only a few hundred dollars for his citywide challenge. The victory for Cohen, a second-term council person for East Baltimore's 1st District, comes after he unseated Council President Nick Mosby in the Democratic primary.
To win the Democratic nomination, Cohen jumped into the primary race unusually early, mounting an aggressive campaign and raising far more money than his opponents. On the campaign trail, the 1st District councilman argued that under Mosby's leadership the council became disconnected from the communities it serves, marked by infighting and lacking a coherent vision.
Among his top policy priorities, Cohen has promised to push city leadership to provide universal pre-kindergarten, and emphasized the importance of establishing a stronger pipeline from city schools into well-paying, middle-class jobs such as carpenters or electricians, or dockworkers at the Port of Baltimore. Over his eight years on the City Council, Cohen has championed legislation to train city employees in "trauma-informed care," tighten regulations on lobbyists in City Hall , hike fines on illegal dumpers and establish a cabinet-level office for senior citizens.
On his campaign website, Digman, the Republican nominee, called for a forensic audit of Baltimore's finances, lowering the tax rate and improvements to schools, housing and workforce development. He stands for "God, Family, Country and Baltimore," the campaign site states, and in a photo Digman sports a "Make America Great Again" cap in support of former President Donald Trump.
Cohen, a former nonprofit leader and teacher through the national Teach for America program, was first elected to the City Council in 2016. Often seen as an ally of Mayor Brandon Scott, his primary win in May marked a broader changing of the guard on City Council, with Mosby and two other moderate incumbents on the panel losing.
In the handful of other contested City Council races, Democratic incumbents were cruising to easy wins:
The remainder of the Democratic slate for City Council ran unopposed.
That includes incoming freshman Mark Parker, a Highlandtown pastor, in Southeast Baltimore's District 1; Ryan Dorsey in Northeast Baltimore's District 3; Mary Conway in North Baltimore's District 4; Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer in Northwest Baltimore's District 5; Sharon Green Middleton in Northwest Baltimore's District 6; incoming freshman Paris Gray, a staffer in outgoing Councilman Kirsterfer Burnett's office, in West Baltimore's District 8; John Bullock in West Baltimore's District 9; Phylicia Porter in South and Southwest Baltimore's District 10; incoming freshman Zac Blanchard, a neighborhood association president and high school football coach, in District 11 from Locust Point, through downtown to Bolton Hill; and incoming freshman Jermaine Jones, a longtime union leader, in District 12, which spans Jonestown, Greenmount and Remington.
The results in the City Council races round out what appears to be a resounding day for Baltimore's Democratic candidates. Scott handily secured a second term as mayor, while Comptroller Bill Henry won his reelection uncontested.
