A longtime union leader, Jones ran a progressive campaign to unseat a two-term East Baltimore stalwart. He joins a wave of young, progressive-leaning candidates set to join the council.

Zac Blanchard, Jermaine Jones and Paris Gray maintained their advantages in Baltimore City Council races as Friday’s deadline for certifying results approached.

Canvassers poured over almost 5,000 provisional and mail-in ballots Wednesday, more than initially expected. Of those, about 2,000 were thrown out, and about 744 will be only “partially accepted,” or counted in statewide races, due largely to voters filling out ballots in the wrong council district or to unaffiliated voters erroneously participating in the May 14 closed primary, city Board of Elections representatives said Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday, canvassers will begin reviewing at least 6,000 additional provisional ballots and elections officials expect to use the rest of the week to tally up those votes.

“I need to do everything that I can to try to avoid the avoidable ones, and then try to help people once they have been evicted,” Cogen said.

About 25,000 outstanding votes were expected to help decide at least three closely contested City Council races that have not yet declared winners.

Voters have become more familiar with mailed-in ballots over the last four years, experts said, which makes accounting for turnout a more arduous process.

Baltimore voters choose stability; Dixon’s die-hards; low turnout; and other things we learned from Tuesday’s results.

Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the race was too close to call; with seven of 17 precincts reported, Gray had the slightest of edges.

The Baltimore City Council is not likely to change much as several incumbents, facing lesser-known or scantily funded opponents, were poised to handily win their races.

The East Baltimore district has been reshaped, adding Little Italy and Harbor East to neighborhoods including Greenmount West, Oldtown and Remington.

Candidates seeking to get their names out to voters before May 14 are spending heavily on campaign materials, media spots and direct mailers.

Mayor Brandon Scott, for the fourth consecutive year, has removed owner-occupied properties from the annual tax sale list, his office said Wednesday.

The Banner and Goucher College Poll surveyed Baltimore voters last month. We circled back to Vignarajah voters to see how they were feeling now.

Maryland is the third state to eliminate the practice as the question of fairness in admissions undergoes increased scrutiny across the country. Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park had already eliminated legacy admissions.

The outgoing councilman has endorsed a successor, but two others say they have what it takes to represent Southeast Baltimore.

A Democrat in her second term leading Maryland’s second-largest county, Alsobrooks — the first woman and Black woman elected to the position — said her life’s work has culminated in this: a bid for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Scott’s challengers sought to drown out his optimistic message and lambasted his record, casting him as an ineffective leader whose portrait of improvement masks a more complicated and stagnant on-the-ground reality.

Paris Gray, a mentee of outgoing Councilman Kristerfer Burnett, and former state Del. Bilal Ali, lead in fundraising.

City Councilman John Bullock faces a challenge in West Baltimore’s 9th District.