Mary-Ann Baldwin

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Mary-Ann Baldwin

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Raleigh City Council At-large

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Mayor of Raleigh

Successor: Janet Cowell

Predecessor: Nancy McFarlane

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Report an officeholder change

Education

Bachelor's

University of Rhode Island, 1979

Personal

Profession

Marketing professional

Contact

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Personal Instagram

Personal YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Mary-Ann Baldwin was the Mayor of Raleigh in North Carolina. She assumed office on December 2, 2019. She left office on December 2, 2024.

Baldwin ran for re-election for Mayor of Raleigh in North Carolina. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Baldwin announced on April 16, 2024, that she would not seek re-election as mayor.

Mayoral elections in Raleigh are nonpartisan. Baldwin is a Democrat.

Baldwin was an at-large member of the Raleigh City Council. She was first elected to the council in 2007. On July 21, 2017, Baldwin announced she would not seek re-election to a sixth term.

Biography

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Mary-Ann Baldwin earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Rhode Island in 1979. She worked as the co-founder of Innovate Raleigh and as the vice president of marketing and business development at Holt Brothers Construction. Baldwin served as the chair of the Raleigh Law & Public Safety Committee and Transportation Committee. In 2007, she was elected to the Raleigh City Council, where she served until 2018.

Elections

2024

See also: Mayoral election in Raleigh, North Carolina (2024)

Mary-Ann Baldwin did not file to run for re-election.

2022

See also: Mayoral election in Raleigh, North Carolina (2022)

General election

General election for Mayor of Raleigh

Incumbent Mary-Ann Baldwin defeated Terrance Ruth, DaQuanta Copeland, and Paul Fitts in the general election for Mayor of Raleigh on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary-Ann Baldwin (Nonpartisan)	46.6	71,521
		Terrance Ruth (Nonpartisan)	40.6	62,371
		DaQuanta Copeland (Nonpartisan)	10.2	15,640
		Paul Fitts (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	1.4	2,191
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1	1,749

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 153,472
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2019

See also: Mayoral election in Raleigh, North Carolina (2019)

General election

General election for Mayor of Raleigh

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Raleigh on October 8, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary-Ann Baldwin (Nonpartisan)	38.2	20,861
		Charles Francis (Nonpartisan)	31.1	17,017
		Caroline Sullivan (Nonpartisan)	20.5	11,191
		Zainab Baloch (Nonpartisan)	6.5	3,553
		Justin Sutton (Nonpartisan)	2.1	1,125
		George Knott (Nonpartisan)	1.4	741
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	142

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 54,630
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2015

See also: Raleigh, North Carolina municipal elections, 2015

The city of Raleigh, North Carolina, held elections for mayor and city council on October 6, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was July 17, 2015. In the at-large city council race, incumbents Mary-Ann Baldwin and Russ Stephenson defeated Matt Tomasulo and Craig S. Ralph in the general election on October 6, 2015.

Raleigh City Council At-large General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mary-Ann Baldwin Incumbent	31%	19,086
Russ Stephenson Incumbent	30.2%	18,547
Matt Tomasulo	24.4%	15,002
Craig S. Ralph	14%	8,636
Write-in	0.3%	202
Total Votes		61,473
Source: Wake County Elections, "Municipal Elections Unofficial Results," October 6, 2015

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mary-Ann Baldwin did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Mary-Ann Baldwin did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Baldwin's campaign website stated the following:

“	Raleigh is blessed with a great location, a great climate and a great quality of life. We are consistently on the lists of top cities to live, start a business or get a quality education. But the accolades will continue only if we invest in our future. As mayor, I will focus on these six areas: Housing Affordability. If we don’t offer housing choices, how can we build an inclusive community for all? Click here to read my 10-point plan to ensure we create housing choices and affordability for all residents of our city, allowing the construction of accessory dwelling units by right, encouraging missing middle housing and density along transit corridors, and incentivizing developers to build workforce housing. Transportation and Mobility. Transportation options go hand-in-hand with housing affordability. If people can get to work by riding transit, it’s less expensive than car ownership and also better for the environment. But we need to do more. We need to make it safer to walk, ride bikes and travel by scooter with protected bike lanes. We need to tie land use decisions to transit, embracing smart growth strategies. We need to plan for the future by rethinking parking requirements and partnering with the private sector to meet our transportation goals. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Helping people reach their dreams by building Raleigh-based businesses should be a priority. Ensuring that underserved populations receive job training and exposure to the jobs of the future is a must. And encouraging new thinking and efficiencies inside and outside city government will make us a better city. To accomplish this, we need leaders who embrace new thinking and are not fearful of change. Dix Park. During my 10 years on the Council, we worked hard to make Dix Park a reality, purchasing the property from the state. This was no easy feat. We now have an opportunity to create a world-class park -- but I don't want to wait 20 years to get started. As Mayor, I will lead an effort to fund Phase One, a $31 million Children's Play Area that will attract visitors and families to the Dix property. Homelessness. More than 1,000 people in Wake County are homeless and more than 3,400 children don’t have a stable place to sleep at night. That’s unacceptable. Oak City Cares, a collaboration supported by the City of Raleigh, Wake County, Catholic Charities and other non-profits, will provide services to our homeless community. But that’s only the beginning. We must do more to help our homeless veterans and women – and work with Wake County to realize these goals. Respect for City Staff. Publicly and privately criticizing city staff has become the norm under the current City Council. As mayor, I will ensure this disrespectful and damaging behavior is stopped. I will empower staff to do their jobs and encourage them to bring forward big ideas to ensure that our city grows and prospers – and that we truly are a 21st century city of innovation.	”
—Mary-Ann Baldwin’s campaign website (2019)

2015

Baldwin's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Job creation

• Excerpt: "Make our region one of the top five centers for entrepreneurship and innovation in the country by continuing to support our start-up community, create an Office of Innovation to promote efficiency and big ideas within City government, and invest in economic development efforts."

Transportation

• Excerpt: "Bring better bus service and alternative transportation to our region to reduce future congestion and ensure that our growing senior population and younger generation can get where they need to go. In particular, we must look for ways to reduce congestion on I-40, provide more frequent bus service and improve the R-Line downtown service."

Green space

• Excerpt: "Park initiatives that can have a transformational impact on our city include the redevelopment of Moore Square and the creation of a Whitewater Rafting Park in North Raleigh."

Noteworthy events

Events and activity following the death of George Floyd

See also: Events following the death of George Floyd and responses in select cities from May 29-31, 2020

Baldwin was mayor of Raleigh during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events in Raleigh, North Carolina began on Saturday, May 30, 2020. On May 31, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) deployed the North Carolina National Guard to the city. No curfews were issued over the weekend.

To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right.

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, a Black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a White officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process." On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in relation to Floyd's death. Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to activity regarding racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first events took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. An event in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host an event in response to Floyd's death.

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Nancy McFarlane	Mayor of Raleigh 2019-2024	Succeeded by Janet Cowell
Preceded by -	Raleigh City Council At-large 2007-2017	Succeeded by -