Sheila Dixon

Sheila Ann Dixon (born December 27, 1953) is an American politician who served as the forty-eighth mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. When the former mayor, Martin O'Malley, was sworn in as governor on January 17, 2007, Dixon, the president of the Baltimore City Council, served out the remaining year of his term. In November 2007, she was elected mayor. She was the first African-American woman to serve as president of the City Council, Baltimore's first female mayor, and Baltimore's third black mayor. On January 9, 2009, Dixon was indicted on twelve felony and misdemeanor counts, including perjury, theft, and misconduct. The charges stem partly from incidents in which she allegedly misappropriated gift cards intended for the poor. On December 1, 2009, the jury returned a "guilty" verdict on one misdemeanor count of fraudulent misappropriation and Dixon received probation provided she resign as mayor as part of a plea agreement, effective February 4, 2010. She was succeeded by the City Council president, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, on February 4, 2010. By December 2012, Dixon had completed all of the terms of her probation. The case closed by the end of 2012. In 2016, she unsuccessfully sought election as mayor of Baltimore; she was defeated in the Democratic primary by State Senator Catherine Pugh. She then unsuccessfully challenged Pugh as a write-in candidate in the general election. In the 2020 Baltimore mayoral election, she again sought the Democratic nomination, but narrowly lost in the June 2 primary to Brandon Scott. On September 7, 2023, she announced that she would again run for mayor of Baltimore in 2024.