Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell-Charles says she is running for mayor of Annapolis in 2025.

Elected to the City Council in 2013, Pindell-Charles announced her candidacy in an email to The Capital Gazette on Sept. 28. She has represented Ward 3 for a decade and is the second Democrat vying to replace Mayor Gavin Buckley, a Democrat, who will finish his second, and final, term as mayor next year.

Jared Littmann, whom Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman recently endorsed, was the first to say he was running in January. Pindell-Charles filed her paperwork with the city earlier this month but said she has not yet paid the $120 filing fee. She said she intends to pay it in “the upcoming week.”

Pindell-Charles, with over 20 years of experience as an attorney with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, is a staunch advocate for public safety, serving as the current chair of the Public Safety Committee on the City Council since 2017. Over her decade-long career as an alderwoman, she is named in 174 pieces of legislation, according to Legistar, the city’s legislative portal.

In February, she pushed for public safety to be included in the Annapolis Ahead 2040 comprehensive plan. Public safety was added at a later work session.That same month, she also attempted to introduce an omnibus resolution that proposed nearly $3.5 million in supplemental funding for public safety.

The 40-page resolution requested millions for various public safety departments including recruitment bonuses, equipment purchases, and a request for $1.5 million for a new fireboat for the Annapolis Fire Department.

Though her legislative move was blocked, the Annapolis Police Department, which accounts for a quarter of the city’s budget, received a nearly 5% increase in funding from $28.4 million last year to $29.8 million for fiscal 2025. The budget for Annapolis Fire, the second-largest city department, decreased by $600,000; however, $1.5 million was included in this year’s budget for a new fireboat to replace the city’s 17-year-old jet-drive-powered vessel.

Other legislative actions, some of which she sponsored, include resolutions that support workforce development, affordable housing and Anne Arundel County’s free gun lock program. Pindell-Charles has also been a key player in remembering the city’s complicated history with African Americans, such as adding historical markers in Parole where a Rosenwald school was located.

Janet Katz, president of the Annapolis Republican Central Committee, said Monday that the group is “currently connecting with prospective candidates” for the upcoming election.

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