2020 Baltimore mayoral election
← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →
Turnout60.88% Increase[quantify] pp[1]
 
Nominee Brandon Scott Bob Wallace Shannon Wright
Party Democratic Independent Republican
Popular vote 164,661 47,275 16,664
Percentage 70.49% 20.24% 7.13%
Mayor of Baltimore before election

Jack Young
Democratic

Elected Mayor of Baltimore

Brandon Scott
Democratic

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The 2020 Baltimore mayoral election was held on November 3, 2020, concurrent with the general election. Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott, the Democratic Party nominee, won a sizable victory over independent candidate Bob Wallace, Republican Party nominee Shannon Wright, and Working Class Party nominee David Harding.

The incumbent acting mayor Jack Young, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Party nomination, had become mayor following the resignation of Catherine Pugh. Pugh's resignation had come after she was embroiled in a scandal.

Scott won the Democratic nomination in a crowded primary election that had 24 candidates listed on the ballot. Six of these candidates received in excess of 5 percent of the vote. With 29.6% of the vote, Scott's margin-of-victory over former mayor Sheila Dixon's second-place finish was 2.1%. The acting incumbent, Young, placed a weak fifth, with 6.2% of the vote. In addition to Scott, Dixon, and Young, the primary included the candidacies of businesswoman and former United States Department of the Treasury executive Mary J. Miller; former Maryland Deputy Attorney General Thiruvendran Vignarajah; and former county and police department press secretary/spokesperson T.J. Smith. State Senator Mary L. Washington also ran and was listed on the ballot, but had suspended her campaign before the election. In the Republican primary, Shannon Wright defeated six other candidates. The Democratic primary had 148,405 votes cast, while the Republican primary only had 5,608 votes.

The primary elections were originally scheduled to be held on April 28, 2020, with early voting running from April 16 to 23.[2] Due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced on March 17, 2020 that the primary election would be postponed to June 2.[3]

Background and candidates

Incumbent Mayor Jack Young, took office by default on May 2, 2019 following the resignation of Mayor Catherine Pugh.[4] In October 2019, Young announced that he would seek election to remain mayor in 2020.[5]

Notable events since the 2016 election include an escalation of crime following the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015, the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials in 2017, the 2018 rebranding and launch of the BaltimoreLink bus system following Governor Larry Hogan's cancellation of the Red Line, and the Healthy Holly scandal which resulted in Mayor Pugh's resignation in 2019.

Democratic primary

After the first campaign finance reporting date in mid January 2019, Bernard C. "Jack" Young had $960,000 cash on hand, Thiru Vignarajah reported having about $840,000, Brandon Scott had nearly $430,000, Rikki Vaughn $218,000 cash on-hand, Mary Washington had more than $116,000, Sheila Dixon had nearly $89,000, Carlmichael "Stokey" Cannady had nearly $36,000, and T.J. Smith had about $22,000.[6]

Declared candidates

Withdrawn candidates

Declined to be candidates

Polling

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.


Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sheila
Dixon 		Brandon
Scott 		Thiru
Vignarajah 		Jack
Young 		T.J.
Smith 		Mary
Miller 		Mary
Washington 		Undecided
Gonzales Research May 14, 2019 23% – 16% 19% – – – 24%
Baltimore Fox 45 January 14, 2020 15.7% 17.9% 18.2% 15% 11% – – 12.2%
GQR Research/Sheila Dixon[A] February 6–10, 2020 20% 16% 11% 11% 13% 2% 9% 17%
Fox Gonzales February 26, 2020 17% 11% 15% 9% 15% – – –
WYPR, Baltimore Sun March 4, 2020 16% 10% 10% 6% 9% 7% – 31%
WYPR, U of Baltimore Baltimore Sun May 11–18, 2020 18% 15% 11% 5% 6% 18% – 22%
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy March 24, 2020 18% 15% 12% 7% 22% 9% – 15%

Results

Democratic primary results[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Brandon Scott 43,927 29.6
Democratic Sheila Dixon 40,782 27.5
Democratic Mary Miller 23,193 15.6
Democratic Thiru Vignarajah 17,080 11.5
Democratic Bernard C. "Jack" Young (incumbent) 9,256 6.2
Democratic T. J. Smith 8,593 5.8
Democratic Carlmichael Cannady 2,473 1.7
Democratic Mary Washington 1,028 0.7
Democratic Valerie Cunningham 339 0.2
Democratic Keith Scott 303 0.2
Democratic Yasaun Young 188 0.1
Democratic Ralph Johnson, Jr. 177 0.1
Democratic Yolanda Pulley 152 0.1
Democratic Lou Catelli 151 0.1
Democratic Dante Swinton 143 0.1
Democratic Michael Jenson 131 0.1
Democratic Brian Salsberry 129 0.1
Democratic Rikki Vaughn 116 0.1
Democratic Liri Fusha 57 0.0
Democratic Terry McCready 46 0.0
Democratic Sean Gresh 45 0.0
Democratic James Jones II 33 0.0
Democratic Erik Powery 32 0.0
Democratic Frederick Ware-Newsome 31 0.0
Total votes 148,405 100.00

Republican primary

Declared candidates

Results

Republican primary results[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Shannon Wright 1,630 29.1%
Republican Catalina Byrd 1,068 19.0%
Republican William Herd 757 13.5%
Republican David Anthony Wiggins 729 13.0%
Republican Ivan Gonzalez 671 12.0%
Republican Zulieka Baysmore 641 11.4%
Republican Collins Otonna 112 2.0%
Total votes 5,608 100%

Independent

Declared candidate

General election

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size[a] 		Margin
of error 		Brandon
Scott (D) 		Shannon
Wright (R) 		Robert
Wallace (I) 		Undecided
GSG/Brandon Scott[B] September 4–6, 2020 400 (LV) ± 4.9% 65% 6% 14% 16%[b]

Results

2020 General Election[32]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Brandon Scott 164,661 70.49
Independent Bob Wallace 47,275 20.24
Republican Shannon Wright 16,664 7.13
Working Class David Harding 3,973 1.70
Write-in 1,007 0.43
Total votes 233,580 100

Notes

  1. ^ Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  2. ^ Includes "Refused"
Partisan clients
  1. ^ Poll sponsored by Dixon's campaign
  2. ^ Poll sponsored by Scott's campaign

References

  1. ^ "Presidential General Election Baltimore City, Maryland November 3, 2020" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Baltimore City Board of Elections 2020 Election Dates". December 8, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  3. ^ Dickstein, Ryan (March 17, 2020). "Hogan postpones primary election, announces more sweeping action against COVID-19". WMAR-TV. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Duncan, Ian (May 2, 2019). "Now officially Baltimore mayor, Jack Young inherits city's problems — particularly violent crime". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Broadwater, Luke (October 22, 2019). "Young says he's running in 2020 to remain Baltimore mayor, believes city is 'on the cusp of a renaissance'". The Baltimore Sun.
  6. ^ Opilo, Emily; Richman, Talia (January 16, 2020). "Baltimore mayoral candidates raise $2.3M, signaling expensive and bitter fight ahead for crowded field". the Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y "Baltimore City 2020 Presidential Primary Election Local Candidates List". elections.maryland.gov. May 30, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  8. ^ Reed, Lillian (July 16, 2019). "Carlmichael 'Stokey' Cannady announces run for Baltimore mayor". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  9. ^ Schuh, Mike (April 29, 2019). "Hampden's Unofficial 'Mayor' Lou Catelli Files For Baltimore City Mayor". WJZ-TV. Baltimore, Maryland. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Young, Blair (December 15, 2019). "Sheila Dixon enters Baltimore mayoral race". WBAL-TV. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  11. ^ "One Baltimore Mayor | Sean Gresh 2020 | Democratic Candidate for Mayor of One Baltimore City". onebaltimoremayor.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  12. ^ "RALPH E. JOHNSON JR. FOR MAYOR OF BALTIMORE CITY". 79500.campaignpartner.net. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Tenth Candidate To Announce Run For Baltimore Mayor". WJZ-TV. August 15, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  14. ^ "James Hugh Jones II". Baltimore Sun Election Guide 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  15. ^ Richman, Luke Broadwater, Talia (January 7, 2020). "Former T. Rowe Price exec Mary Miller enters Baltimore mayor's race, citing 'crying need for management' in city". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved January 7, 2020.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Pulley, Yolanda [@Yoshie_pulley] (April 2, 2019). "Vote Yolanda Pulley for Mayor 2020. P.O.P" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved October 29, 2019 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Broadwater, Luke (September 13, 2019). "City Council President Brandon Scott enters race for Baltimore mayor, heating up 2020 contest". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  18. ^ Rector, Kevin (October 29, 2019). "Former police spokesman T.J. Smith promises change as Baltimore mayor that he says establishment can't deliver". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  19. ^ "Who might run for Baltimore mayor in 2020". The Baltimore Sun. April 2, 2019. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  20. ^ Rodricks, Dan (April 10, 2019). "Rodricks: Vignarajah comes into the 2020 mayor's race wisely focused on crime and corruption". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  21. ^ a b Barker, Jeff (May 20, 2020). "Businessman Bob Wallace wants to shake up Baltimore mayor's race with independent run". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  22. ^ Richman, Talia (March 16, 2020). "State Sen. Mary Washington suspends campaign for Baltimore mayor to focus on coronavirus". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  23. ^ Carter, Jill P. [@jillpcarter] (October 29, 2019). "Today, I'm announcing my Exploratory Committee to continue the civil rights legacy of Maryland's 7th Congressional District. I'll be talking to my potential constituents about the issues. Reach out via DM if you'd like to support. Thank you! #CarterForCongress" (Tweet). Retrieved October 29, 2019 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Wood, Pamela; Broadwater, Luke (October 24, 2019). "Miller says he'll step down as Maryland Senate president, Democrats pick Baltimore's Bill Ferguson to replace him". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  25. ^ "Ben Jealous might seek Maryland governor's office again, rules out run for Baltimore mayor". The Baltimore Sun. September 5, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  26. ^ Broadwater, Luke (October 3, 2019). "Del. Nick Mosby says he's 'seriously' considering run for Baltimore City Council president". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  27. ^ a b "Official 2020 Presidential Primary Election results for Baltimore City". elections.maryland.gov. Maryland State Board of Elections. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  28. ^ a b c Broadwater, Luke (August 27, 2019). "History is largely against them, but some Republicans are running to be mayor of Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  29. ^ "Baltimore City 2016 Presidential General Election Local Candidates List". elections.maryland.gov. Maryland Board of Elections. November 21, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  30. ^ "Collins Otonna". Ballotpedia. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  31. ^ a b "Baltimore City 2020 Presidential General Election Local Candidates List". elections.maryland.gov. Maryland State Board of Elections. October 8, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  32. ^ "Presidential General Election Baltimore City, Maryland November 3, 2020 OFFICIAL RESULTS" (PDF). Baltimore City Board of Elections. 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.

External links

Official campaign websites for mayoral candidates
Mayoral elections in Baltimore
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