State senator Catherine Pugh wins Baltimore mayoral primary
Source: The Guardian
Maryland state senator Catherine Pugh beat 11 other candidates, including activist DeRay Mckesson, in a hard-fought and historic primary election in Baltimore’s mayoral race Tuesday, on the eve of the first anniversary of the unrest that shook the city in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray last year.
Gray, 25, died after suffering from a severe spinal injury in police custody last year, and the uprisings which followed his death led to a wide-open field when the current mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, announced she would not seek re-election in September.
Though Pugh, considered an establishment candidate, prevailed, the election was revolutionary in many respects. A new law enfranchised as many as 20,000 ex-felons in the city, and new early voting and same-day registration laws vastly increased early voting numbers, with more than 30,000 ballots cast before election day. For the first time in the city’s history, the mayoral race coincided with the larger national presidential election.
Nationally, however, the mayoral election could also herald a new direction for the Black Lives Matter movement. Mckesson, who grew up in Baltimore and returned to the city during the unrest last year, threw his hat into the crowded ring only moments before the February deadline.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/27/baltimore-mayoral-primary-catherine-pugh-wins-deray-mckesson
Baynard Woods in Baltimore
Wednesday 27 April 2016 05.22 BST
