Catherine Pugh | |
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50th Mayor of Baltimore | |
Assumed office December 6, 2016 |
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Preceded by | Stephanie Rawlings-Blake |
Majority Leader of the Maryland Senate | |
In office January 14, 2015 – December 6, 2016 |
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Preceded by | James Robey |
Succeeded by | Douglas J. J. Peters |
Personal details | |
Born |
Catherine Crump March 10, 1950 Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Morgan State University (BS, MBA) |
Website | Campaign website |
Catherine E. Pugh (born Crump; March 10, 1950), an American Democratic politician, is the 50th and current mayor of Baltimore City, Maryland. Pugh has been involved in Maryland politics since 1999 when she served on the Baltimore City Council. She has also held office in the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate, serving as the Majority Leader from 2015 to 2016. She first ran for Baltimore City mayor in 2011 and lost the primary to Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Pugh ran again in 2016 and won the primary against former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Pugh then won the mayoral election on November 8, 2016 with 57% of the popular vote, and took office on December 6, 2016. She is Baltimore's third consecutive female mayor.
Born Catherine Crump on March 10, 1950, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Catherine Pugh was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her seven siblings. In 1967, she graduated from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. After high school, Pugh moved to Baltimore City, Maryland to attend Morgan State University, where she earned a B.S. and M.B.A. , a [[Service fraternity| In 1988, Pugh founded a public relations firm, Pugh and Company. From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, she was an independent editor for The Baltimore Sun and dean and director of Strayer Business College in Baltimore. In 1994, she returned to Philadelphia and became vice president of Brunson Communications and co-owner of a local Delaware Valley TV station, WGTW-TV, where she was the host of "Another View", a weekly public affairs program that focused on policy issues within the black community and featured interviews with community leaders and public officials. In 1999, Pugh entered Baltimore City politics. Currently, she is president and CEO of Pugh and Company, and in December 2016, became the 50th mayor of Baltimore City, Maryland.