The more things change, the more they stay the same on the Baltimore City Council.
At least that?s the result of Tuesday?s primary election, as almost all sitting incumbents won by wide margins. City Council Vice President Robert Curran said incumbents usually win, provided they are responsive to their constituents on zoning and land use issues.
“On the City Council level it?s about empowering the communities, especially through land use and zoning issues,” the veteran council member said. “Incumbents win if they perform.”
City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who was appointed to the job by the council after Sheila Dixon became mayor in January, cruised to victory with a wider than expected over her strongest challenger, community activist Michael Sarbanes.
“She?s very pleased,” her spokesman Shaun Adamec said Wednesday, noting that Rawlings-Blake had hit the ground running. “She was at the Board of Estimates at 9 this morning ready to get started.” At least two newcomers will take seats vacated by City Council members who ran unsuccessfully for higher office.
William Cole, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, won in a crowded field to take the 11th district seat of Keiffer Mitchell Jr., who was defeated in the mayoral race.
Bill Henry, a community activist, won the 4th district seat of Kenneth Harris Sr., who came in third place behind Rawlings-Blake and Sarbanes in the race for City Council president.
Only one incumbent appeared on the verge of defeat, according to unofficial results from the Baltimore City Board of Elections: Vernon Crider, who was trailing challenger Warren Branch in the 13th district by 51 votes, with 81 absentee ballots to count.
