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Baltimore City Council

Legislature of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

Summary

Legislature of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

Field	Value
name	Baltimore City Council
coa_pic	Seal of Baltimore, Maryland.svg
house_type	Unicameral
leader1_type	Council President
leader1	Zeke Cohen
party1	Democratic
election1	December 5, 2024 (succeeded Nick J. Mosby)
members	15
structure1	File:Baltimore City Council 2019.svg
structure1_res	200px
* {{nowrap	{{Color box	#000090	border	darkgray}} Democratic (15)}}
committees1
voting_system1	Electoral districts with four-year terms
last_election1	November 5, 2024
session_room	1city hall baltimore.jpg
meeting_place	Baltimore City Hall
Council Chamber
Baltimore, MD
website

Council Chamber Baltimore, MD

The Baltimore City Council is the legislative branch that governs the City of Baltimore. It has 14 members elected by district and a president elected at-large; all serve four-year terms. The council holds regular meetings on alternate Monday evenings on the fourth floor of the Baltimore City Hall. The council has seven standing committees, all of which must have at least three members. As of 2022, the president receives an annual salary of $131,798, the vice president gets $84,729 and the rest of councillors receive $76,660. The current city council president, Zeke Cohen, was sworn in on December 5, 2024.

History

During its early history the council was composed exclusively of white, non-Jewish males. In 1826, the Maryland General Assembly passed the "Jew Bill", which allowed Jews to hold public office in the state. Two leaders in the fight for the law were Jacob I. Cohen Jr. (1789–1869) and Solomon Etting (1764–1847), who subsequently won election to the council and became the first Jewish officeholders in the state. In 1890, Harry Sythe Cummings was elected to the council, becoming the state's first black elected official. In the 40 years after 1890, six black Republicans won elections to the council.

In 2003, as a result of the ballot initiative Question P, the Baltimore City Council went from six three-member districts to 14 single-member districts. The council president continued to be elected at-large resulting in a legislative body consisting of a total of 15 members.

Since 1926, Baltimore City elections occurred the year following the gubernatorial cycle with elected officials taking office in the same year as the election. From the 1920s to the 1970s city elections were held in the spring, with primary elections in March and the general election in May, with the winners also taking office in May. In the 1970s the elections were changed to the fall, with the primary occurring in September and the general in November and the winners taking office in December. In 2012 the city's elections were moved to coincide with the presidential election cycle. This changed the 2015 election to 2016 and gave councilmembers elected in 2011 a five-year term.

Reflecting the near-total dominance of the Democratic Party in city politics, no Republican has been elected to the council since 1939.

City Council President

The council president is elected citywide. The council president presides over the council and serves as a voting member. In addition to their role on the council, the council president is also president of the Board of Estimates and serves as ex officio mayor pro tempore. In the event the mayor's office falls vacant, the council president automatically becomes mayor for the balance of the term. If the position of council president is vacant, the members of the council elect the new council president.

Term	Party	Notes
†	Democratic	Had been the president of the 2nd Branch of the City Council, prior to the change to a unicameral council. Died in office in September 1930.
	Democratic**	Was vice president of the council and served as acting president following Bryant's death in September 1930. O'Meara was a Democrat, however he was elected and supported by the Republican members of the council, who he primarily voted with.
	Democratic	Lost re-election in the primary coming in third behind Sellmayer and John Meyer.
	Democratic	In the 1935 election, John Meyer initially was called the winner on election night with 24 votes, after a recount, Sellmayer won. Lost re-election in the primary to O'Connell in 1939
	Democratic	Lost re-election in the primary to Conlon in 1943
†	Democratic	Died in office. Served from May to October 1943
♯	Democratic	First elected as Council President by the council in October 1943, following Conlon's death. Was re-elected in 1947. He chose to run for mayor as an independent in 1951 instead of re-election and lost in his bid for the mayoralty. Resigned as Council President 10 days early.
	Democratic	Elected by the voters in the 1951 election, and elected by the council to fill the last 10 days of Kelly's term. Ran for mayor in 1955 and lost the primary to Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.
	Democratic	Running on a ticket with Mayor D'Alesandro, Abramson lost re-election in the primary to Goodman.
♯	Democratic	In 1959 he ran on a joint ticket with J. Harold Grady for mayor and R. Walter Graham Jr. for comptroller, and all 3 won. Resigned as Council President in December 1962 to become mayor upon Grady's resignation of the mayoralty to become a judge
	Democratic	First elected Council President by the council in December 1962. Re-elected in 1963. Ran for mayor in 1967 and won.
	Democratic	Ran for mayor in 1971 and won
♯	Democratic	Resigned as Council President on October 18, 1982, due to conviction on bribery and corruption charges.
♯	Democratic	Du Burns was the first African-American Council President. He was Council Vice President and first elected as Council President in October 1982 by the council following Orlinsky's resignation. Resigned as council president to become mayor in January 1987 following Mayor Schaefer's election as governor
	Democratic	Served from January to December 1987. He was a 3rd District councilman and was elected Council President upon Burns' resignation to become mayor. He did not run for re-election in 1987, retiring from politics.
	Democratic	Mary Pat Clarke was the first female council president. She had previously served as a 2nd District councilwoman from 1975 to 1983 and had run for Council President in 1983, losing the primary to Burns. She ran for mayor in 1995 and lost the primary election to Mayor Kurt Schmoke
	Democratic	Ran for mayor in 1997 and lost the primary election to 3rd District Councilman Martin O'Malley
♯	Democratic	Resigned in January 2007 to become mayor following O'Malley's election as governor
♯	Democratic	She was the 6th District councilwoman and was first elected Council President by the council in January 2007 following Dixon's resignation. Resigned as council president to become mayor on February 4, 2010, due to Dixon's resignation as mayor following a corruption trial.
♯	Democratic	He was the 12th district councilman and was first elected Council President by the council in February 2010 due to Rawlings-Blake's elevation to mayor. Resigned himself in May 2019 to become mayor.
	Democratic	She served as Council President Ex-Officio from April 2, 2019, until May 6, 2019, while President Young served as Mayor Ex-Officio and between the time he succeeded to the mayoralty and the Council voted on Young's successor. She held this position as virtue of serving as Council Vice President and she was the 6th district councilwoman.
	Democratic	He was the 2nd district councilman and was first elected Council President by the council on May 6, 2019, due to Young's resignation to become mayor
	Democratic	He was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 40th district and elected Council President in the November 2020 general election
	Democratic	He was the 1st district councilman and elected Council President in the November 2024 general election after defeating then-council chair Nick Mosby in the Democratic primary

† Died in Office ♯ Resigned as Council President

Records

The records of the City Council, dates ranging from 1797 to 1987, reside at the Baltimore City Archives in Record Group BRG16. The collection includes administrative files, volumes of proceedings, joint council session reports, correspondence, ordinances and resolutions, committee bills, hearing schedules, and other records.

Members

Members of the Baltimore City Council

Current members

District	Locale	Party	Elected	Primary Committee
Southeast	Mark Parker	Democratic	2024	Education, Young, & Older Adults (vice chair)
Northeast	Danielle McCray	Democratic	Appointed June 2019	Budget (chair)
Morgan State, Harford Road	Ryan Dorsey	Democratic	2016	Transportation (chair)
	Mark Conway	Democratic	2020	Public Safety (chair), Public Health & Environment (vice chair)
Northwest	Isaac Schleifer	Democratic	2016	Legislative Investigations (chair), Budget (vice chair)
Park Heights, Roland Park	Sharon Green Middleton	Democratic	2007	Council Vice President, Transportation & Land Use (vice chair)
	James Torrence	Democratic	2020	Housing & Economic Development (chair), Labor & Workforce (vice chair)
Edmondson Village, Forest Park	Paris Gray	Democratic	2024
West	John Bullock	Democratic	2016	Education, Young, & Older Adults (chair)
Cherry Hill	Phylicia Porter	Democratic	2020	Public Health & Environment (chair)
Downtown	Zac Blanchard	Democratic	2024	Public Safety (vice chair)
Greenmount, Jonestown	Jermaine Jones	Democratic	2024	Labor & Workforce (chair)
East Baltimore	Antonio Glover	Democratic	2020	Legislative Investigations (vice chair)
Charles Village	Odette Ramos	Democratic	2020	Housing & Economic Development (vice chair)
	Zeke Cohen	Democratic	2024	Council President

Former members

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1923-1927	Frank G. Dotterneich	John C. Heethwecker	Edward J. Novack	Ambrose J. Kennedy	Edward S. Stanley
1927-1931	Frank J. Baner	James B. Blake	Philander B. Briscoe	John P. Brandan	Warren Burgess
1931-1934	William I. Flynn	George W. Koning	Richard C. O'Connell	Joseph L. Ruth	Howard A. Sweeten
1934-1938	William Bonnett	Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr.	James L. Hennegan	J. Robinson Boland	James T. Klima
1939-1943	Samuel N. Friedel	Lawrence F. Appel	James B. Blake	John F. Conroy	James F. Arthur
1943-1947	Simon P. Jarosinski	Medio Walt	John T Mullin, Sr.	Maxwell Alpert	Charles E. Falter
1947-1951	John T. Booth	Ambrose J. Kennedy, Jr.	Anthony F. DiDomenico	Walter J. Dewees	H. Warren Buckler Jr.
1951-1955	James J. Duffy	Joseph A. Bertorelli	C. Lyman Schueler	Anna F. Arthur	C. Meredith Boyce
1955-1959	Joseph J. Staszak	Chester J. Ray	James Joseph Welsh, Jr.	J. Joseph Curran	Richard D. Byrd
1959-1963	Clement J. Prucha	Anthony F. DiDomenico	Peter G. Angelos	George W. Arthur	Frank X. Gallagher
1963-1967	Charles Panuska	Thomas H Ward	J. Joseph Curran	John A. Pica	Henry G. Parks, Jr.
1967-1971	Dominic 'Mimi' DiPietro	Joseph V. Mach	Robert L. Douglass	Robert C. Embry Jr.
1971-1975	John A. Schaefer	Barbara A. Mikulski	Clarence H. 'Du' Burns	Robert J. Fitzpatrick	Carroll J. Fitzgerald
1975-1979	Mary Pat Carke	Nathan C. Irby, Jr.	Michael B. Mitchell	Thomas J.S. Waxter Jr.	Joseph P. Murphy
1979-1983	Donald G. Hammen	Martin E Curran	Norman Reeves	Thomas J.S. Waxter Jr.	Rochelle 'Rikki' Spector
1983-1987	Anthony J. Ambridge	Jacqueline F. McLean	Nathaniel J. McFadden	Joseph Jodie T. Landers III	Kweisi Mfume
1987-1991	Nicholas C. D'Adamo, Jr.	Carl Stokes	Wilber E. Cunningham	Lawrence A. Bell	Sheila Dixon
1991-1995	John L. Cain	Peter Sfikas	Paula Johnson Branch	Martin O'Malley	Melvin L. Stukes
1995-1999	Lois Garey	Robert L. Douglass	Robert W. 'Bobby' Curran	Joan Carter Conway	Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr.
1999-2004	Bea Gaddy	Bernard C. 'Jack' Young	Lisa Joi Stancil	Kenneth Harris, Sr.	Catherine E. Pugh

Paula Johnson Branch (D)*** Vernon Crider (D)
2007–2011
Agnes Welch (D)^
William "Pete" Welch (D)
William "Bill" Cole IV (D)
Jack Young (D)^^
Carl Stokes (D)
-

Carl Stokes (D)
2016–2020
Leon Pinkett (D)
Shannon Sneed (D)
-
2020–2024
Danielle McCray (D)
Mark Conway (D)
James Torrence (D)
Phylicia Porter (D)
Antonio Glover (D)
Odette Ramos (D)
}
*Elected Council President by the council in January 2007. Sharon Green Middleton was elected by the council to fill Rawlings-Blake's seat.

^ Agnes Welch resigned her seat December 2010. The council elected her son William "Pete" Welch to fill her seat in January 2011. He was re-elected in 2011 and lost the primary in 2016.

** Bill Cole resigned his seat on August 30, 2014, to become the president of the Baltimore Development Corporation. Eric Costello was elected by the council in October 2014.

^^Bernard C. "Jack" Young was elected Council President by the council in February 2010. The Council elected former councilman Carl Stokes to the seat.

***Paula Johnson Branch resigned her seat on March 2, 2007. The council elected Vernon Crider to the seat on April 16, 2007, and he lost re-election in the primary later that year.

^^^Brandon Scott was elected Council President by the council on May 6, 2019.

Election results

2020

All 14 seats on the city council are being defended by the Democrats in the 2020 election.

Baltimore City Council elections, 2020	Party	Candidates	Votes	Seats	No.	%	∆pp	No.	∆No.
Democratic Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Democratic Party	14	183,627	89.53	+4.09	14	0	100.00
Republican Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Republican Party	9	14,007	6.83	-1.28	0	0	0.00
Green Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Green Party	1	4,868	2.37	-0.45	0	0	0.00
write-in candidate}}"		Write-in	N/A	2,609	1.27	-0.02	0	0	0.00
Independent (politician)}}"		Ujima People's Progress Party	0	0	0	-0.54	0	0	0.00
Total	205,111	100.00	±0	14	±0	100.00

Democrats are also defending the separately elected position of City Council President.

2016

All 14 seats on the city council were retained by the Democrats in the 2016 election.

Baltimore City Council Elections, 2016	Party	Candidates	Votes	Seats	No.	%	∆pp	No.	∆No.
Democratic Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Democratic Party	14	174,070	85.44	+2.49	14	0	100.00
Republican Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Republican Party	8	16,529	8.11	+1.48	0	0	0.00
Green Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Green Party	4	5,749	2.82	+0.58	0	0	0.00
Independent (politician)}}"		Unaffiliated	3	3,650	1.79	+1.79	0	0	0.00
write-in candidate}}"		Write-in	N/A	2,633	1.29	−5.98	0	0	0.00
Independent (politician)}}"		Ujima People's Progress Party	1	1,107	0.54	+0.54	0	0	0.00
Libertarian Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Libertarian Party	0	0	0	-0.89	0	0	0.00
Total	203,738	100.00	±0	14	±0	100.00

In addition to retaining absolute control of the City Council, the Democrats held the separately elected position of City Council President.

2011

All 14 seats on the city council were being defended by the Democrats in the 2011 election.

Baltimore City Council Elections, 2011	Party	Candidates	Votes	Seats	No.	%	∆pp	No.	∆No.
Democratic Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Democratic Party	14	38.779	82.95	N/A	14	0	100.00
write-in candidate}}"		Write-in	N/A	3,397	7.27	N/A	0	0	0.00
Republican Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Republican Party	8	3,103	6.63	N/A	0	0	0.00
Green Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Green Party	2	1,051	2.24	N/A	0	0	0.00
Libertarian Party (United States)}}"		Maryland Libertarian Party	3	417	0.89	N/A	0	0	0.00
Total	46,747	100.00	±0	14	±0	100.00

Democrats also defended the separately elected position of City Council President.

Notes

References

"Rules of the City Council of Baltimore". Baltimore City Council.
(2008). "Baltimore City Charter". Baltimore City.
Platcher, David. (April 2, 2018). "What's causing Baltimore's population loss? It's no mystery". [[The Baltimore Sun.
"Salary increase puts Mayor Scott's annual pay at nearly $200,000".
"Salary increase puts Mayor Scott's annual pay at nearly $200,000".
"History of the Baltimore City Council". Baltimore City Council.
Wiernik, Peter. (1912). "History of the Jews in America: From the Period of the Discovery of the New World to the Present Time". Jewish Press Publishing Company.
"Move to add year to Baltimore mayor, council terms faces fight".
"Baltimore City Council Presidents, 1923-present".
(April 4, 1935). "BOTH CLAIM COUNCIL HEAD NOMINATION: Meyer And Sellmayer Not Expected To Settle Issue Until Tomorrow LATTER'S MARGIN NOW PUT AT TEN Recount Or All Ballots Cast In City Tuesday May Be Resorted To". The Sun.
(April 5, 1935). "MEYER WINNER BY 24 VOTES I OFFICIAL COUNT: Sellmayer Counsel Says Recount More Will Be Made Today LOSER TAKES LEAD AT TIMES IN TALLY Final Result Differs By Only One Vote From Wednesday Report". The Sun.
"Guide to Government Records BRG16".
"Committees | Baltimore City Council".
Middleton was appointed in 2007 and subsequently was elected to the position.
(May 5, 2023). "Maryland Voter Guide 2022 - Baltimore Sun".
"2020 Election Results".
"2016 Election Results".
(November 6, 2011). "Baltimore City general election candidates - Baltimore Sun".
(November 22, 2011). "Statement of Votes Cast Baltimore City General 2011".

Wikipedia Source

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