Say Goodbye: Why Rawlings-Blake Quits The City She Set On Fire

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced at a Friday news conference that she will not seek re-election next year.

The news comes just days after officials said the city would pay Freddie Gray’s family $6.4 million to settle civil claims over his spinal injury and nearly five months after the city erupted in rioting following Grays death.

Baltimore’s police union, which represents the six officers, opposed the deal with Gray’s family.

The mayor said she believes she could have won re-election, pointing to her work on the city’s budget and pension system, but not seeking re-election was the best decision.

“It was a very difficult decision, but I knew I needed to spend time focused on the city’s future, not my own,” she said.

Rawlings-Blake assumed the post in 2010 when her predecessor, Sheila Dixon, stepped down after a conviction for embezzling gift cards for needy families and a separate plea for lying about gifts from her developer ex-boyfriend.

Rawlings-Blake won the 2011 Democratic primary with about 52 percent of the vote in the heavily Democratic city, which hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1967.