On Friday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she will not seek re-election next year, according to The New York Times.
Baltimore's attention has been focused on the upcoming trials of six police officers charged with causing the death of Freddie Gray. The announcement from Rawlings-Blake came as a surprise to the media, but in her statement she said she has been thinking about the decision for two months.
The mayor explained that spending time on a re-election campaign isn't the right move right now. "I would be taking away from my current responsibility to my city, to the city that I love, the city that I took an oath to serve...And because of that, I have made the decision not to run for re-election," she said, The New York Times reported.
Rawlings-Blake was criticized after the Gray death and the riots that followed. Gray was arrested in April and was fatally injured while in police custody, according to Inquisitr. The cause of death is listed as homicide. Gray died due to a neck injury sustained while riding in a police van.
The city of Baltimore will pay the Gray family $6.4 million to settle a civil suit, according to Fox News.
