Campaign 2016

A turbulent year of protests in 2015 made Baltimore take a hard look in the mirror and sent shock waves through the sleepy and secure political establishment. With the incumbent mayor's decision not to seek re-election and a large batch of City Council seats up for grabs, the 2016 election promises to be eventful.

Brown, indicted for campaign law violations, still works for Pugh

Spokesman confirms he was hired by the mayor’s communications office.

Pugh aide Gary Brown Jr. charged with illegal contributions to her campaign

Brown had just been nominated to fill a vacancy representing the 40th District in the Maryland legislature.

Bernie Sanders’ speech at Hopkins through one student’s eyes

Born in Africa, raised near Baltimore, feeling stung by bias, she came away “empowered.”

Money and votes in the final days of the mayoral race

Who contributed to whom in the duel between Catherine Pugh and Sheila Dixon?

From Baltimore Trump voters, what message?

In an upscale waterfront district, a couple calls their vote for Trump “a protest.”

Pugh wins as mayor, turning back last-minute challenge by Dixon

Unlike the national election, there were no surprises in yesterday’s vote in Baltimore.

Long lines, not enough scanners hamper some voting

Amid heavy presidential election turnout, a few precincts are overwhelmed.

Know your voting rights today

Hotline numbers, links and Q&A from the ACLU of Maryland.

Crowds, congestion and democracy: last day of early voting

Record-setting crowds, 1-2 hour wait at League for People with Disabilities site.

Green Party’s Harris: An outsider’s campaign in an insider’s town

A mayoral candidate works hard to upset conventional wisdom.

Long lines in Baltimore on first day of early voting

Early voting runs though next Thursday.

Dear Donald, black Baltimore doesn’t want your help

A local writer finds Trump’s “living in hell” talk galling – and simply wrong.

EXCLUSIVE: Sheila Dixon plans write-in campaign for mayor

Former mayor expected to provide more details at announcement tomorrow.

Pugh raked in more than $1M before and after the primary

Loan from former County Executive Jim Smith, support from Paterakis and the “pest control king,” among details in filing. Updated.

Pugh seeks to pay off campaign debts tonight

Baltimore’s presumptive mayor seeks cash to replenish her campaign coffers.

Black Lives Matter activist picked for schools post

Failed mayoral candidate Deray Mckesson lands job with city schools.

Guess who loaned $100,000 to Pugh campaign? Ex-Baltimore County executive Jim Smith

74-year-old aims to throw his weight around City Hall.

Pugh to hold fundraiser to pay off campaign debt

BREW EXCLUSIVE: The Democratic nominee for mayor is deep in the red.

Election board off to 4-day conference at Bay resort

$13,000 in general funds allotted for 12 officials to trek to Cambridge.

Citing irregularities, suit asks for election do-over

Pest control mogul gave over $100,000 to Maryland politicians

Businessman Walter Tilley, who flew mayoral nominee Pugh to Las Vegas, has been generous to both political parties.

Baltimore’s primary results recertified tonight

No changes in any race.

Press gets to peek at review of Baltimore’s bobbled primary

As the review in a West Baltimore warehouse goes forward, election official says no scanned votes will be stricken, reconciliation process is unlikely to change winners

At state’s behest, city election officials rescind Baltimore’s primary results

Citing irregularities, city and state election officials begin a precinct-level review of the April 26 primary results.

It’s official: Pugh beat Dixon in Democratic primary

Dixon is silent on today’s final ballot count.

Activists and candidates, including Dixon, decry election irregularities

The former mayor is pondering a legal challenge, while other candidates and activists are calling for an investigation into alleged primary day snafus.

Will new and younger candidates bring change to the City Council?

ANALYSIS: Fresh faces are expected on the next City Council. Do they augur a new era for a stand-pat, often ridiculed body?

Pugh declares victory over Dixon in mayor’s race

A state senator beats a former mayor. Four other candidates – Embry, Warnock, Stokes and Mckesson – cumulatively gather only 26% of the vote.

On Election Day near the site of last year’s protests, it’s Dixon country

Among the problems that voters encountered in Baltimore today: polls that opened late, prompting a legal challenge.

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Last-minute campaigning in Council races that promise change

Shannon Sneed hopes to unseat incumbent Warren Branch – who bested her by 43 votes in 2011 – in one of many competitive City Council races. A Brew rundown.

A policeman, a pastor and a publicist script a unity march in West Baltimore

The imagery at a Freddie Gray commemoration march is carefully controlled on the eve of Baltimore’s primary.

Money rains down on judges from city law firms

What’s behind the second biggest moneyed campaign in Baltimore this election year? The second of two articles.

Pressed by opponents, Baltimore’s “sitting judges” push back

Six incumbent judges recuse themselves from the cases of a feisty public defender while also feeling the heat from another challenger. The first of two articles.

As expected, Comptroller Pratt skips forum with King

Mike King doesn’t have wide name recognition or a big campaign war chest, but he has a lot of ideas. And unlike his opponent in the April 26 primary, he showed up at a forum last night to talk about them.

Opponents blast Reisinger ad touting his role in incinerator battle

They knocked on doors, held demonstrations, got themselves arrested and finally defeated a plan for a trash-burning power plant in South Baltimore. Now a city councilman’s campaign ad saying he was “instrumental” in the victory has the opponents steaming mad.

Mosby connects the dots and quits

At Taxpayers’ Night, Pratt and Young confronted for skipping candidates’ forums

Incumbents are assailed for blowing off the election as advocates beg them to restore education and after-school funds the mayor has cut. Comptroller Pratt faces a challenge: will she attend a debate with her opponent tomorrow?

Green Party candidate: My being booted from forum stage says it all

“Let her speak!” people in the audience said, as the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, Margaret Flowers, was forced off the stage of a debate organized by the Baltimore Jewish Council. In an op-ed, Flower argues that the exclusion of third parties may be legal, but it isn’t right.

Today is the last day to register to vote

Mosby complains about “doctored” email

Change may be looming in Baltimore, but not for the Council President

A lightly attended forum underscores a home truth – in a year where the talk is of change in City Hall, Baltimore’s No. 2 elected official isn’t going anywhere.

Developer Paterakis orchestrates $130,000 in campaign contributions to Sheila Dixon

The billionaire developer and bakery owner, nicknamed The Bread Man, funnels contributions to the cash-strapped ex-mayor through family members, business associates and Greektown friends

Speaking of the Resurrection: Sheila Dixon

Strong ties to UM Medical System bring Pugh campaign cash

State Senator Catherine Pugh has been on the board of directors of the private corporation that runs the University of Maryland Hospital for more than than a decade. And the top executives of the UM Medical System haven’t forgotten her as she raises big dollars in her campaign for mayor.

It’s your state’s attorney calling on behalf of my husband

Robocalls went out last night in Baltimore on behalf of mayoral candidate Nick Mosby. Nothing out of the ordinary during an election year. Except that the person who spoke on his behalf was his wife, who cited her position as “your state’s attorney.”

Mckesson raising mayor’s race money in Manhattan

Raising money in Baltimore? Heck, there’s more in Manhattan at the home of ex-banker and Teach for America board member Ted Dreyfus.

Special Report: Sheila Dixon’s jumbled history of campaign reporting is unique among candidates

Our examination of campaign filings by other local politicians, including Catherine Pugh and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, shows that they made much less use of amendments than has Sheila Dixon. And when they did file amendments, they did not significantly alter the cash balance reported.

Dixon says she won’t, then she might, release her campaign bank statements

The former mayor said she might release her campaign committee’s bank statements to help clear up the committee’s write down of $200,000 in cash. “I have nothing to hide,” she said, promising to discuss the matter with her attorney.

Campaign Close-Up: Drilling down on Dixon’s finance report do-overs and “missing” $200,000

Maryland’s director of Common Cause calls it “one of the strangest filings I’ve ever seen.” She is referring to the changes made by Sheila Dixon’s campaign committee that shrunk the former mayor’s cash balance by more than 70%. The Brew takes a close look.

Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson files for mayor

The activist’s last-minute entry into the mayor’s race throws the chattering class in Baltimore into an uproar. As Wire co-creator David Simon put it on Twitter, “Politics in my town just got very, very interesting.”

Campaign Close-Up: In a busy news week, Mosby releases 15-point plan

Another day, another news conference in front of a boarded-up Baltimore vacant. With dueling multi-point manifestos, and overlapping media events, the Baltimore political scene in this 2016 election year is heating up.

Catherine Pugh opens her campaign office for mayor

The state senator from the Westside’s 40th district lost to Rawlings-Blake in 2011. How she fits into the saturated field of 2016 hopefuls.

Campaign Close-Up: One weekend, two candidate events, two different messages

In the settings they chose, the rhetoric they used and the crowds they drew, Nick Mosby (announcing his mayoral campaign) and Sheila Dixon (opening her campaign office), just gave us some clues to how they plan to position themselves in the 2016 mayoral race – and govern if they win.

Campaign Close-Up: 1st District candidates talk traffic, development and crime

Candidates vying to represent Southeast Baltimore tackle some hot-button issues at a forum. One said he was not opposed to development or density, “But I am opposed to development without planning or the partnership of communities impacted. And sadly that’s what happened here.”

Dixon campaign video: “This is a city of second chances!”

Campaign Close-Up: A case of the dueling kick offs

Sheila Dixon is framing her campaign as a populist fight by a street-savvy outsider. Thus contributions from fat-cat developers won’t do. SRB is searching for deep pockets – but is offering cut-rate tickets to her September 24 fundraiser at the Hippodrome.

Jack Young jumps on the Anthony Brown campaign steamroller

Endorsements for Anthony G. Brown as the next Maryland governor pile up as Baltimore’s incumbent politicians embrace the handpicked choice of Gov. Martin O’Malley, who can’t succeed himself (and has other ambitions). Today City Council President Young joined the crowd.