When early voting begins in the primary for the city’s mayoral race on Thursday, the ballot will be absent one expected name. Nick Mosby dropped out of the race on Wednesday.
At a speech outside City Hall, Mosby said it was a difficult decision that he has spent days mulling. He appeared to be going through his normal appearance schedule, debating five other Democrats in a televised encounter Tuesay night and taping a TV interview as late as Wednesday morning:
Interviewed @MosbyforMayor at 10…drops out of race at 1. pic.twitter.com/dX9Q5iZELN
— Jason Newton (@JNNewtWBAL) April 13, 2016
After gaining notoriety for comments on Fox News during the riots, the 37-year-old City Councilman ran for mayor arguing that he was positioned to bring new energy that would move the city forward. After facing early questions about a potential conflict of interest with his wife Marilyn Mosby’s position as State’s Attorney, Mosby released a 15-point plan outlining what he would do as mayor. At forums and debates, he frequently talked about the need for holistic solutions to move the city forward. However, he struggled to gain traction amid the crowded field. The latest UB-Baltimore Sun poll showed the City Councilman with 5 percent in the race.
The exit has political repercussions beyond his own mayoral hopes. As a result of running for mayor, Mosby loses his City Council seat representing the West Baltimore-centered 7th District.
Mosby’s decision also immediately plays into the campaign of one of his former rivals in particular. He opted to endorse Catherine Pugh, despite criticizing her in recent weeks as she gained the lead. On Wednesday, Pugh also picked up endorsements from former NAACP head Ben Jealous, Rev. Jamal Bryant and attorney Billy Murphy. The state senator, who finished second in the 2011 race, was leading the most recent poll.
Nick Mosby good that you are out of the race because you didn’t have a chance anyway but let me tell you this Save-A-Lot market is hiring stock boys if you a job
At this point in the race he should have just hacked it out. I’m kind of glad he did drop out though because I don’t see how he thought he was going to bring new energy to move the city forward when he couldn’t even move his own district forward. But not need to beat him anymore than he’s probably already doing to himself. But I will say that some of these city council candidates need to follow suit.
In the 5th District, we have a candidate that proclaims to have devoted 14 years fighting for our communities. But those 14 years weren’t on a voluntary basis, it was her employment obligations with the Mayor’s Office and the City Council President Office, which means she was not really fighting for us but more so against us. As far as I’m concerned doing nothing at all is just the same as fighting against our communities.This particular candidate never involved herself in the closing of schools in our district, never help with the kids begging on Northern parkway, she never attended the meetings to bring the Shop Rite in to our community, she never helped members in our community with the sewage problem we are still dealing with, and she certainly is not helping us fight the methadone clinic trying to open next to the daycare. How can she best represent our community needs when she just moved in the district 8 months ago? Betsy Gardner needs to jump on the bandwagon with Nick Mosby.