Victoria Jackson-Stanley

Victoria Jackson-Stanley (born August 20, 1953) is an American politician who previously served as mayor of the city of Cambridge, Maryland. She was the first African-American and the first female mayor of Cambridge, Maryland.

Background
Jackson-Stanley was born in and grew up in Cambridge, where blacks attended segregated schools. The town had a history of racial unrest, with race riots making headlines in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the town integrated and she was among the first black students to attend the previously all-white Cambridge High School.

Jackson-Stanley was previously the deputy director of the Dorchester County Department of Social Services. She and her husband, Jerome, live in Cambridge; they have a daughter and a grandson.

Election
On June 10, 2008, in a non-partisan primary election Jackson-Stanley and incumbent Mayor Cleveland Rippons won the right to face each other in the July general election. Rippons received 696 votes, Jackson-Stanley 674 votes and Octavene Saunders finished third with 128 votes. Under Cambridge local election laws, only the top two vote-getters qualify for a run-off general election. Rippons, an eight-year incumbent, was criticized during the campaign for his support of the expansion of development in and around Cambridge. On July 8, 2008 voters chose Jackson-Stanley over Rippons by a 1,383 to 1,231 margin. Although Cambridge is composed equally of black and white residents, neither candidate felt that the other brought up race as an issue. Residents agreed that economic growth and other concerns were more important than gender or race. Jackson-Stanley was sworn in on July 21, 2008. She won a second term in July 2012. Jackson-Stanley served a third term from 2016 to 2020. She was defeated in a runoff election by a 57% to 43% margin in 2020 by local businessman and volunteer firefighter Andrew Bradshaw.