Sheila Dixon bags another endorsement as she attempts a third consecutive run to reclaim the office of mayor of Baltimore.
Councilmember Eric Costello, of the 11th district, is the first sitting Baltimore city elected to make an endorsement in the 2024 mayoral primary.
“City Hall has reached a level of dysfunction that I never thought was possible, and our residents and our small businesses deserve better,” Costello said to a small group of supporters and media on the southern end of Mount Vernon Place on Thursday afternoon.
He pointed to high turnover in Mayor Brandon Scott’s executive staff and the fact that the mayor’s office has grown by “dozens” of employees with “little to know discernible results.”
“In the past few weeks, the administration has suddenly rolled out action plans for increased responsiveness to 311 service requests for basic items like illegal dumping, pothole repairs, and streetlight outages. These are basic everyday city services,” he said. “These are issues that have gone mostly unaddressed for the first three years of Mayor Scott's turn, reminiscent of writing a term paper the night before it's due.”
Mayor Brandon Scott was sworn into office in December 2020, during the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns. In the past, the administration has pointed to difficulties with short staffing and COVID-19 outbreaks as challenges in providing regular services, particularly in the Department of Public Works.
Costello did not endorse the former mayor in her 2016 and 2020 runs for office.
But, he said he thinks Dixon has a history of getting results when it comes to city services. Dixon, a former Baltimore City Council President, entered the office in 2006 when Martin O’Malley vacated the role to become governor. In 2007, she was elected into the office but resigned in 2010 after being found guilty of perjury.
Dixon has presented herself as a tough on crime candidate. Homicides and non-fatal shootings are currently down in the city compared to last year.
The mayor’s campaign responded to the endorsement with a statement that said, ““This election will come down to a simple choice: do we want to keep building Baltimore’s future or return to the failed leadership and policies of the past. Mayor Scott is committed to building Baltimore’s future, one where we continue record investments in education and our youth, continue opening rec centers and not closing them and continue to reduce crime while building public trust.”
The mayor is expected to formally kick-off his reelection campaign on Saturday with an event at the Cahill Recreation Center.
