Baltimore Rex | The simple way to follow Baltimore

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she wants to make interim police commissioner Kevin Davis the real deal. Rawlings-Blake will ask the city council to approve a multi-year contract for Davis, which would likely extend his contract past the end of her term. That’d mean the city would have to pay Davis a potentially hefty severance if the next mayor wants a different police chief.

Is Davis the right cop for the job? SRB points to his good relationship with rank-and-file officers (and their union), and for bringing renewed energy to the department (in other words, arrests are up). At the same time, Davis is still relatively new to Baltimore (moving from Anne Arundel in January), and since his tenure as interim commissioner began in July, the needle hasn’t moved much on the city’s murder-a-day violence spike and an uptick in property crime. Anti-police-brutality activists aren’t really impressed with Davis. City council members Nick Mosby and Helen Holton are skeptical that Davis has proven he’s the right pick, and are concerned about how a long-term contract could hurt taxpayers.

Rep. Elijah Cummings says that it’d be “premature” to assume he won’t run for re-election to his seat in Congress. Yesterday, pastor Jamal Bryant announced he’s running for Cummings’ 7th District seat, renewing speculation that Cummings will seek Barbara Mikulski’s spot in the Senate.

Landing the gig