Dixon, then president of the Baltimore City Council, served out the remaining year of her term and won the mayoral election in November 2007.

On January 9, 2009, Dixon was indicted by then State prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, on twelve felony and misdemeanor counts, including perjury, theft, and misconduct.

The indictment alleged the personal use of gift cards, donated by two prominent Baltimore real estate developers, Patrick Turner and Ronald Lipscomb.

[10] After graduating from college, Dixon worked as an elementary school teacher and adult education instructor with the Head Start program.

[13] In 1991, Dixon waved her shoe at white colleagues on the Baltimore City Council and yelled, "You've been running things for the last 20 years.

In 2003, she won her re-election race for president of the Baltimore City Council, defeating her nearest competitor, Catherine Pugh, by 21,000 votes.

To combat crime, Dixon appointed Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who supported her neighborhood-crime strategy.

[23] While her critics complained that crime had risen in Baltimore during her tenure and that she did not pay enough attention to the issue, her record shows that she had increased police patrols,[24] cracked down on the possession of illegal guns,[25] and actively secured federal and state funds for crime-fighting programs.

[26] Dixon ran for a full term as mayor in the 2007 election and won the Democratic Party primary in September.

[29] Dixon's crime plan departed from that of previous Mayor Martin O'Malley in that it stressed community policing and focused on apprehending the most violent offenders as opposed to zero-tolerance approach.

[30] State Delegates Tom Hucker, Maggie McIntosh, Curt Anderson, Cheryl Glenn, Melvin L. Stukes, Talmadge Branch, Senators Nathaniel J. McFadden and Catherine Pugh and Baltimore City Council members Robert Curran, Bernard "Jack" Young, Ed Reisinger, Stephanie Rawlings Blake and Agnes Welch endorsed Dixon and were at the rally as well.

The Democratic primary results were:[31] General election:[32] In her first inaugural address as Mayor, Dixon alluded to what she considered people's wrong impression of her and stated, "I want you to know that I am much more than a newspaper headline or a sound bite on the evening news.

She was found guilty on one misdemeanor embezzlement charge relating to her use of over $600 worth of retail-store gift cards that were intended to be distributed to needy families.

On January 6, 2010, as part of a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Dixon announced that she was resigning as mayor, effective February 4, 2010.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dixon received probation before judgment (PBJ) in the recent case in which she had been found guilty, as well as in a perjury trial that had been scheduled for March 2010.

Dixon agreed to not seek office anywhere in the state of Maryland, including Baltimore, during her probationary term and that she will not solicit or accept taxpayer money to pay her defense fees.

She was the front-runner in the Democratic primary until early 2016,[40] when Congressman Elijah Cummings endorsed her leading opponent, Catherine Pugh in April 2016.

She serves on other boards, including the Institute of Human Virology, the Transplant Resource Center, the Urban Health Initiative, the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, the Living Classrooms Foundation, and the Walters Art Museum.