Thread by @AlecMacGillis

One of many elements I unfortunately did not have space for in my recent piece on Baltimore's unraveling was key demographic context around the 2016 mayoral election narrowly won by Catherine Pugh: she won thanks to strong support among white voters. More: digitaledition.baltimoresun.com/tribune/articl…

Sheila Dixon, who resigned over ethical transgressions in 2010 after an otherwise fairly successful tenure, crushed Pugh in black neighborhoods. Pugh just barely won because many white voters, without knowing much about her at all, saw her as more presentable than comeback Dixon.

"Dixon won 170 of about 200 city precincts that have a majority African-American population, while Pugh won 69 of the approximately 96 precincts that have a majority white population, according to Election Day voting data released by the Baltimore Board of Elections."

"Pugh won a largely white precinct at Hampden Elementary with 235 votes....Dixon finished a distant 6th, with 22 votes....
Dixon won big in East & West Baltimore...For example, at Gilmor Elementary in Sandtown-Winchester, Dixon took 65 percent—421 votes compared to 179 for Pugh."

All of which is to say, while some outside the city might look at the Healthy Holly scandal unfolding now and say "oh, more inner-city political corruption," the fact is that this mayor was allied with the city's white voters and business elite, not with its black neighborhoods.