Sheila Dixon

Sheila Ann Dixon (born December 27, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 48th mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, after mayor Martin O'Malley was sworn in as governor on January 17, 2007. Dixon, then president of the Baltimore City Council, served out the remaining year of her term and won the mayoral election in November 2007. Dixon 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 by then State prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, on twelve felony and misdemeanor counts, including perjury, theft, and misconduct. The indictment alleged the personal use of gift cards, donated by two prominent Baltimore real estate developers, Patrick Turner and Ronald Lipscomb. In December 2009, the jury delivered a guilty verdict on one count of "fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary" and acquitted her on two counts of felony theft, and one count of misconduct in office. As part of a plea agreement made in December 2009, Dixon received probation in exchange for stepping down as mayor. She was succeeded by then City Council president, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Dixon has remained active in the Baltimore community and sought reelection for mayor in 2016. She was defeated in the Democratic Primary by then State Senator Catherine Pugh, who received 2,408 more votes than Dixon. Dixon challenged Pugh as a write-in candidate in the general election, but lost with 51,716 votes. In the 2020 Baltimore mayoral election, she again sought the Democratic nomination, but narrowly lost to candidate Brandon Scott. On September 7, 2023, she announced a third election bid to return to the mayoralty in 2024, but was once again defeated by Mayor Scott in the 2024 Democratic primary.