BALTIMORE—Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake unexpectedly announced on Friday that she would not seek reelection when her term ends in 15 months.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake says she does not want to be distracted from attempting to help the city recover from the civil unrest this past April as well as make preparations for the upcoming trials of six police officers that have been charged in connection with the arrest and death of Freddie Gray.

"As I prepared to engage in a vigorous mayoral campaign and participated in planning meetings with my campaign team and volunteers, I came to the realization that every moment that I spend running for mayor would take away from the urgent responsibilities to the city that I love," she said in a prepared statement. She said she didn't want to see every difficult decision she makes during her remaining term "evaluated, questioned and critiqued within the context of how it affects a political campaign."

Mayor Rawlings-Blake pointed to her achievements in office that included instituting pension reform, developing the city's first 10-year financial plan, earning the city's highest combined bond rating in decades, implementing ethics reform, reducing property taxes, investing in repairing the police department's relationship with the community, reducing unemployment by a third, attacking blight through the “Vacants to Value” program, reducing teen pregnancies by a third, and securing more than $1 billion for school construction.

Certainly the construction climate has improved considerably for the city, although that is due to many outside factors, not just the local political climate. According to Downtown Partnership Baltimore, investors have committed $1.36 billion to Downtown projects currently under construction and $1.28 billion to future Downtown projects.

But the city's improved financial profile has no doubt played a role in that investment, and the mayor is at least partly responsible for that. "Mayor Rawlings-Blake navigated Baltimore through some tough fiscal times as well as the city's recent difficult periods of unrest," Donald C. Fry, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, says in a prepared statement. "Her decision not to run was no doubt a difficult one. But it does allow her to focus on making the correct policy decisions confronting the city and not have the air of political expediency hanging over her every decision leading up to the election date."

For the remaining time the mayor is in office, she plans to work on police-community relations and push for a $136 million plan for recreation centers in the city, among other initiatives.

Instant Insights /

Mayor Rawlings-Blake Will Not Run for Reelection

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