Pastor Jamal Bryant May Enter Race For Mayor of Baltimore

The race for mayor of Baltimore could be getting more crowded, now that incumbent Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has announced plans not to run for re-election.

WBAL NewsRadio 1090 has reported that Pastor Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple of Baltimore, is due to hold a news conference Monday morning at the Freddie Gray Empowerment Center.

The news conference is being held that Bryant is going to run for mayor, or another office next year.

Bryant was highly visible during the April riots, and his congregation led an effort to build a community center in West Baltimore named after Gray.

In late May, Bryant led a protest that shut down exit ramps on I-395, and I-95 into the city, to protest plans by the state to build a new juvenile detention facility.

There were no arrests that day.  

At the time Bryant promised other demonstrations, calling them the "ten plagues," though none were held. 

Bryant had supported Mayor Rawlings-Blake and partnered with her on a number of anti-violence forums.

However, shortly after the May protest, Rawlings-Blake said she had warned Bryant not to stage any similar protests.

Meanwhile, former  Mayor Sheila Dixon formally kicked off her bid for mayor this afternoon, hosting an ice cream social for her supporters. 

Dixon, who resigned from office in 2010 as a result of a guilty plea in a theft and perjury charge, believes Baltimore residents have forgiven her. She says, her plans have not changed now that incumbent Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has announced she will not run for re-election. 

There are at least seven declared Democrats, and two independents running for mayor next year. 

Source WBAL