In Baltimore sheriff’s race, a battle at the ballots — and in court

As they crisscross Baltimore ahead of the June primary election, Sheriff Sam Cogen and challenger Sabrina Tapp-Harper have been raising money, knocking on doors and giving their stump speeches.

They also recently sat for depositions in the workplace discrimination lawsuit she filed against him.

For years, Cogen and Tapp-Harper worked side by side as commanders in the Baltimore sheriff’s department. But when Cogen unseated the longtime sheriff of more than 30 years in 2022, he forced Tapp-Harper out. She sued him two years later, alleging discrimination and retaliation.

And now she’s running against him — with the backing of Mayor Brandon Scott — hoping to become the city’s next top sheriff.

The battle between them will come to a head later this month in the city’s Democratic primary, where the race will be decided, as there is no Republican candidate.

The campaign is already dividing power brokers, with the biggest names and donors behind the incumbent, and the mayor and the city’s two law enforcement unions among those behind the challenger.

On Friday Gov. Wes Moore endorsed Cogen, whose backers already included Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume. The sheriff has also had a strong lead in campaign cash, strongly outpacing Tapp-Harper in donations raised and cash on hand.

“I made a lot of promises ... and we were able to get a lot of it accomplished,” Cogen said in an interview.

That includes “humanizing” the eviction process, which he believes has helped drive a 40% decline in evictions. He’s also made the sheriff’s office a steady presence at community events and expanded the way it assists other law enforcement. His predecessor didn’t even use a computer, and Cogen cobbled funds to bring in updated technology.

Along the way, he’s rankled the deputy sheriff’s union, who issued a vote of no confidence in him last year and are actively opposing his reelection.

The sheriff earns a $210,000 annual salary and oversees a budgeted staff of 212 people, who primarily perform court security, serve warrants and enforce evictions.

Alleging discrimination

Cogen, a Philadelphia native whose accent helps him pass for a local, “grew up” at the sheriff’s office, spending 25 years there, starting with screening bags at the courthouse. He rose through the ranks before taking on John W. Anderson, the sheriff first elected in 1989 and only boss he’d ever known.

Tapp-Harper, an East Baltimore native, spent 26 years with the Baltimore Police Department, working in five of the nine patrol districts and leading sexual assault investigations. She joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2014, where her accomplishments included creating a nationally recognized Domestic Violence Unit and establishing the Sheriff’s Office in-service training program.

In September 2021, Tapp-Harper filed an internal complaint detailing incidents of gender and race discrimination, including allegations that Cogen, then the assistant sheriff, was unequally enforcing training reimbursement policies.

Cogen stepped down in November 2021 to mount his campaign against Anderson, and won the primary election.

Just three months before Cogen was sworn in as sheriff, the Anderson administration reached a settlement agreement with Tapp-Harper to resolve her complaint. Among the terms was her promotion to assistant sheriff.

The day he took office, Cogen placed Tapp-Harper on administrative leave without prior notice. She then submitted paperwork to the state pension system indicating her plan to retire in February 2023, but a month later was terminated immediately.

“She contends that her placement on administrative leave and termination were in retaliation for naming Sheriff Cogen in her earlier EEO Complaint, and that her termination violated the settlement agreement,” wrote Tapp-Harper’s attorney, Sheridan Todd Yeary, who is also senior pastor of the Douglas Memorial Community Church.

Cogen noted that most of the claims in the suit were dismissed by a judge and says it was his prerogative to choose a leadership team.

Carving a new path

As part of improving his department, Cogen hired social workers to be involved in evictions while extending that process to allow landlords and tenants to work things out.

He implemented a body camera program and upgraded the technology to serve court paperwork. He brought in house more tech assistance as part of a broader effort to sever his agency from city government.

Cogen’s independent streak, however, attracted the attention of Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

A 2025 investigation revealed that Cogen, who said he was fed up with asking the mayor for staff raises, directed employees to use a code on their timesheets to boost their wages. The move triggered an improper calculation that cost the city more than $2.2 million in unanticipated overtime.

“Rather than pursuing lawful, negotiated pay increases, Sheriff Cogen ... placed 94 deputies in the middle of a dispute between City Hall and the Sheriff’s Office — leaving them exposed to potential recoupment of more than $2.3 million," said the deputies union, which has now endorsed his challenger.

Cogen remains unapologetic.

“It was something that had to be done,” he said of overspending. “Like you could not not do these things.”

Tapp-Harper says there’s “no excuse” for going over budget.

“And on day one, I would definitely order a forensic audit,” she told residents at a recent candidate forum in the Canton neighborhood.

Among those supporting the challenger is Therman Reed, who retired from the sheriff’s office and supported Cogen’s first campaign in 2020. Though he returned to the department under Cogen and served as assistant sheriff, Reed quit last spring and is now backing Tapp-Harper.

“I thought it would be a great change in leadership,” Reed said. But he said, “I could not bear what I was seeing.”

Shauna Carroll retired from the agency in 2022 but has stayed on as union president because, she said, deputies wanted someone who was insulated from retaliation to stand up for them.

“I’ve told him how disappointed I am in him,” Carroll said of her old boss. “I thought he was going to be different.”

The deputies union, along with the Baltimore Police Department’s Fraternal Order of Police lodge, also knock Cogen for helping to bring charges against the officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death more than a decade ago. But Cogen defended his role in that case and touted how he has stood up to President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Cogen, himself a former president of the officers’ union, pointed out that only 17 union members participated in his no-confidence vote, and says most of them like Carroll were retired. He chalks complaints up to members of the old guard being resistant to change.

“Their job has significantly changed,” Cogen said. “If you thought you were going to sit in a courtroom and not do work, you’re going to be upset with Sam Cogen. That is absolutely true.”

Deputies never had to forfeit any money as a result of the timesheet dispute, he added. And Cogen has since secured them 17% raises.

Mending fences?

Two years ago, Cogen came out in support of Scott’s primary election challenger Sheila Dixon. “I do not have a partner with this mayor,” Cogen said of Scott likening him to a bear trying to eat him.

Cogen said he’s tried to mend fences ever since with the city’s top elected leader.

“Since the election, I’ve made it very clear to him that I understand he’s the mayor and I want to work with him. And anything he’s asked me to do, I’ve done, and I purposefully haven’t spoken an ill word of him since then,” Cogen said in an interview last month. “I think people really like the things that we’re doing with the sheriff’s office and he takes that into consideration.”

Nonetheless, Scott cut an ad for Tapp-Harper that went online Thursday morning, followed by a fundraising plea sent from his campaign account.

“I have worked with Sabrina in Baltimore communities to build public safety for over a decade and witnessed her ability to build partnerships that were unlikely but necessary to make neighborhoods safer,” Scott said in a statement. “I know she will be a true partner in continuing Baltimore’s historic violence reductions.”