Running for reelection, Baltimore mayor is now 'battle-tested,' his supporters say. Is it enough?

BALTIMORE — The screen at Baltimore’s Senator Theatre faded to black.

The film the crowd gathered to see had ended on a somber note. Mayor Brandon Scott’s quest to reduce homicides in Baltimore remained unrealized by the time filmmakers behind “The Body Politic” stopped shooting the first-term mayor around the end of 2021. Scott’s efforts continued after cameras went down, however, and the crowd knew what happened next.

White text appeared on the screen announcing the benchmark: Baltimore’s homicide count fell below 300 in 2023. It was the first time in nearly a decade.

An emotional theater erupted into applause. Some rose to their feet as Scott took the stage moments later to answer questions about the film.

“Are you inspired?” host Dapper Dan Midas asked, beckoning the crowd. Attendees hummed in the affirmative. “Are you rejuvenated?”

Scott’s quest has not ended. The mayor, who has made combating violent crime a chief focus, often notes that one victim of homicide is too many. But as the city’s May 14 primary draws near, that figure has been a feather in Scott’s cap.

“They sent me to City Hall four years ago after we went debate after debate, conversation after conversation about how the mayor was going to develop and plan a strategy to significantly reduce homicides,” Scott said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun. “And I did that.”

Scott’s challengers in the mayoral race are familiar. All three of his top opponents — former Mayor Sheila Dixon, former prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah and businessman Bob Wallace — also ran in 2020, although Wallace did so as an independent. This time, all are Democrats. Dixon, who a recent poll showed running close to Scott, came nearest to beating him last time. She trailed by about 3,100 votes.

The narrative this time is different. In 2020, much was made of the then-36-year-old Scott’s youth. Despite his 10 years on the City Council and a career spent entirely in public service, he fended off barbs from his fellow candidates and commentary as he knocked on voters’ doors.

Now 40, Scott looks little older than his 36-year-old self. His cluttered meme and trophy-decorated mayoral office bears resemblance to a middle school boy’s bedroom. But city residents have had the benefit of watching Scott grow into the mayoral post. He’s shepherded the city through a pandemic, mourned the loss of an unprecedented number of firefighters and been a face of Baltimore following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

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