Catherine E. Pugh

Catherine E. Pugh (born March 10, 1950) is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. She is currently serving in her 3rd term in the Maryland State Senate and is the Majority Leader, representing Maryland's District 40 in Baltimore City. She ran for mayor in 2011 and lost the primary to Stephanie Rawlings Blake. She ran again in 2016 mayoral election and became the Democratic nominee for mayor of Baltimore. Pugh won the mayoral election on November 8, 2016 with 57.1% of the popular vote, and is expected to take office on December 6, 2016.^[1]

Background

Catherine Pugh earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from Morgan State University in Baltimore City, Maryland. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.^[2]

Pugh is the president and CEO of C.E. Pugh & Company, a public relations firm. She served as an independent editor for the Baltimore Sun from the mid 1980s to early 1990s. She also served as the dean and director for Strayer Business College in Baltimore.^[3]

In 1994, Pugh worked for WTGW-TV 48 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the host of “Another View,” a weekly public affairs program that focused on policy issues within the African American community and featured interviews with community leaders and public officials. Pugh also authored Mind Garden: Where Thoughts Grow and Healthy Holly, a children’s book series advocating exercise and healthy eating. She is the founder of programs such as the Baltimore Marathon; the Fish Out of Water Project, a program that promotes tourism in Baltimore City to raise money for arts programs for local youth; and the Need to Read Campaign, a program designed to help Baltimore residents improve their reading skills.

Political career

Pugh was first elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1999, where she served until 2004. She ran for president of the Baltimore City Council in 2003, but lost to Sheila Dixon in the primary. In 2005, the governor of Maryland appointed Pugh to an open seat in the Maryland House of Delegates, where she served for one year before winning a seat in the State Senate in 2006. She sits on the Finance Committee and serves as the State Senate Majority Leader.

She leads the state on cyber security and telemedicine expansion legislation. Pugh is also responsible for diversifying the state's $40 billion pension portfolio, having led the passage of Senate Bill 606, which increased African American and other minority managed dollars from $300 million to $4.2 billion.^[4] Pugh is currently president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and she's the past chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and the Women's Caucus of Legislators in Maryland.

Baltimore mayoral campaign, 2016

In 2015, Pugh entered the democratic race for Mayor of Baltimore and launched her campaign headquarters in the city.^[5] She was an underdog comparably to former Mayor Sheila Dixon until the beginning of 2016. The endorsement from congressman Elijah Cummings in April 2016 boosted her campaigning efforts.^[6] The primary election results indicated that Pugh won with 37% of the vote, defeating the former mayor, Sheila Dixon, who received 34%.^[7] Pugh won the mayoral election on November 8, 2016, with 57.1% of the popular vote, and is expected to take office on December 6, 2016.^[1]

References

External links

• About Catherine Pugh

Mayors of Baltimore
Calhoun T. Smith Johnson Stiles Johnson Montgomery Johnson Montgomery Small Steuart Hunt S. Smith Leakin Brady Hillen Law Davies Stansbury Jerome Hollins Hinks Swann Brown Blackburn Chapman Banks Van Sant Latrobe Kane Latrobe Whyte Latrobe Hodges Latrobe Davidson Latrobe Hooper Malster Hayes McLane Timanus Mahool Preston Broening Jackson Broening Jackson McKeldin D'Alesandro Jr. Grady Goodman McKeldin D'Alesandro III Schaefer Burns Schmoke O'Malley Dixon Rawlings-Blake Pugh