Democrats swept contests for the City Council as the votes were being counted, an expected outcome of Tuesday’s election that cements a younger, greener and potentially more progressive panel of legislators to represent Baltimore for the next four years.

The Democratic dominance across Baltimore’s 15 City Council seats comes as no surprise in deep blue Baltimore, where a Republican hasn’t won a citywide office since the 1960s. The makeup of this new City Council has been clear since the Democratic primary in May, and only five members had challengers in Tuesday’s general election.

The easy dominance for Democratic council members also came as city leaders defeated the Republican-backed measure to shrink the City Council, an outcome that would mark just the second time in the last 25 years that a Baltimore ballot measure has failed.

Democratic nominee for City Council president Zeke Cohen handily beat his Republican opponent Emmanuel Digman, a resident of Curtis Bay who raised only a few hundred dollars for his citywide challenge.

Flanked by members of the new City Council, Cohen declared victory in his contest, proclaiming a message of optimism about what his coalition will accomplish in the next four years.

“You said — in no uncertain terms — that the time for cynicism is over,” Cohen said to the cheers of a packed election night party at Verde pizza restaurant in Canton. “The days of saying that we can’t do big things and get the basics right are over. The days of pointing fingers, of putting petty grievances over people, of accepting mediocrity, those days are over.”

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The victory for Cohen, a second-term council person for East Baltimore’s 1st District, comes after he unseated Council President Nick Mosby in the Democratic primary. To win the nomination, Cohen jumped into the primary race unusually early, mounting an aggressive campaign and raising far more money than his opponents. On the campaign trail, the 1st District councilman argued that under Mosby’s leadership the council became disconnected from the communities it serves, marked by infighting and lacking a coherent vision.

Among his top policy priorities, Cohen has promised to push city leadership to provide universal pre-kindergarten, and emphasized the importance of establishing a stronger pipeline from city schools into well-paying, middle-class jobs such as carpenters or electricians, or dockworkers at the Port of Baltimore. Over his eight years on the City Council, Cohen has championed legislation to train city employees in “trauma-informed care,” tighten regulations on lobbyists in City Hall, hike fines on illegal dumpers and establish a cabinet-level office for senior citizens.

Digman, the Republican nominee, did not respond to a call about his defeat Tuesday night. On his campaign website, Digman, the Republican nominee, called for a forensic audit of Baltimore’s finances, lowering the tax rate and improvements to schools, housing and workforce development. He stands for “God, Family, Country and Baltimore,” the campaign site states, and in a photo Digman sports a “Make America Great Again” cap in support of former President Donald Trump.

Cohen, a former nonprofit leader and teacher through the national Teach for America program, was first elected to the City Council in 2016. Often seen as an ally of Mayor Brandon Scott, his primary win in May marked a broader changing of the guard on City Council, with Mosby and two other moderate incumbents on the panel losing.

In the handful of other contested City Council races, Democratic incumbents won easily:

• District 2: Councilwoman Danielle McCray, who was first appointed to the council in 2019, defeated Republican nominee Andy Zipay in northeast Baltimore.
• District 7: First-term Councilman James Torrence defeated Republican nominee Christopher Michael Anderson in Mandarin/Reservoir Hill.
• District 13: First-term Councilman Antonio Glover defeated Republican nominee Alexander Artis in East Baltimore.
• District 14: First-term Councilwoman Odette Ramos defeated Green Party candidate Renaud Deaundre Brown in Charles Village/Waverly.

The remainder of the Democratic slate for City Council ran unopposed.

That includes incoming freshman Mark Parker, a Highlandtown pastor, in Southeast Baltimore’s District 1; Ryan Dorsey in Northeast Baltimore’s District 3; Mary Conway in North Baltimore’s District 4; Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer in Northwest Baltimore’s District 5; Sharon Green Middleton in Northwest Baltimore’s District 6; incoming freshman Paris Gray, a staffer in outgoing Councilman Kirsterfer Burnett’s office, in West Baltimore’s District 8; John Bullock in West Baltimore’s District 9; Phylicia Porter in South and Southwest Baltimore’s District 10; incoming freshman Zac Blanchard, a neighborhood association president and high school football coach, in District 11 from Locust Point, through downtown to Bolton Hill; and incoming freshman Jermaine Jones, a longtime union leader, in District 12, which spans Jonestown, Greenmount and Remington.

In his victory speech, Cohen heaped praised on each member of his new City Council individually, declaring a unified front as he outlined his vision for improving outcomes for public school students and tackling youth crime.

“Councilman Cohen has always been about bringing people together,” Schleifer said. “This council will be more unified together under his leadership” and well-positioned to serve its constituents.

The results in the City Council races round out what appears to be a resounding day for Baltimore’s Democratic candidates. Scott handily secured a second term as mayor, while Comptroller Bill Henry won his reelection uncontested.

The good feelings for city Democrats were bolstered by the failure of Question H, the effort backed by David Smith, the Sinclair Broadcast Group chairman and Baltimore Sun owner, to cut the council from 14 districts down to eight. City voters have historically approved ballot questions almost automatically, but a counter campaign waged by City Hall leaders, labor unions and progressive groups won despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars Smith spent on the proposal.

The results sent a message that “Baltimore is not for sale,” Cohen said to cheers during his victory speech.

City Hall’s victory over Question H gives the council momentum going into its new term, Cohen said at the end of the night.

“This council is energized. People are feeling fired up,” he said.