Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she won't seek
re-election
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-rawlings-blake-20150911-story.html
By Yvonne Wenger, The Baltimore Sun
Elections Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Freddie Gray Baltimore
Riots
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will not seek re-election in
2016.
Freddie Gray trials likely to cost the city millions
Catherine Pugh, Carl Stokes enter Baltimore mayor's race
Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has decided
that she will not seek re-election to the office. (Baltimore Sun)
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Mayor Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake, beleaguered by the death of Freddie
Gray and the protests and rioting that followed, announced
Friday she won’t seek re-election.
She said she is stepping out of the race to focus on
"work to move our city forward," and not out of any concern she might
not win the race against a growing field of challengers.
"It was a very difficult decision, but I knew I needed
to spend time, the remaining 15 months of my term, focused on the city's future
and not my own," she said at a news conference at City Hall.
Rawlings-Blake, 45, has no plans to seek another office. She
briefed her Cabinet and staff on the decision this morning.
She spent recent months ramping up her campaign by building
a field organization in the city, hosting fundraisers and courting voters with
events such as "Mondays with the Mayor" at local bars and
restaurants. But sources familiar with her decision said she felt it would be
inappropriate to ask donors for money while the city copes with the aftermath
of the April riots.
City leaders and police have meanwhile been readying for the
possibility or more unrest. The first trial in the Gray case is scheduled for
Oct. 13, though that date could change, and a judge ruled Thursday the cases
would move forward in Baltimore courts. The officers involved face charges
ranging from second-degree murder to assault and misconduct in office.
The mayor's decision also comes days after her
administration agreed to pay Gray's family $6.4 million in a settlement that
accepted all civil liability in his death but did not acknowledge any
wrongdoing by police.
The mayor abandons her re-election campaign as the field of
Democratic challengers in the April primary grows, including former Mayor
Sheila Dixon, state Sen. Catherine Pugh and City Councilman Carl Stokes.
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