34 Facts About Brandon Scott

Brandon Maurice Scott was born on April 8,1984 and is an American politician serving as the mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, since 2020.

Brandon Scott was the president of the Baltimore City Council from 2019 to 2020, having been elected to the position to replace Jack Young following Catherine Pugh's resignation, as well as a member of the Baltimore City Council from the second district from 2011 to 2019.

Brandon Scott ran track and cross country at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School where he graduated in 2002.

Brandon Scott went on to receive a degree in political science from St Mary's College of Maryland in 2006.

Brandon Scott was the chair of the Public Safety Committee and a member of the Budget and Appropriations and Judiciary and Legislative Investigations committees.

In May 2019, the Baltimore City Council unanimously voted to elevate Scott to serve as the City Council president, serving the remainder of the term of Bernard C "Jack" Young, who ascended to the mayoralty following the resignation of Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh.

Brandon Scott announced his campaign for mayor on September 13,2019, at a press conference in his childhood neighborhood of Park Heights.

On June 9,2020, Brandon Scott was declared the winner of the Democratic primary, defeating the incumbent mayor Jack Young.

Brandon Scott ran for the second term as mayor in 2024, announcing his reelection campaign on November 18,2023.

On May 14,2024, Brandon Scott won the city's Democratic primary for his second term as mayor of Baltimore, narrowly beating his rival, Sheila Dixon.

Brandon Scott won re-election after defeating Republican challenger Shannon Wright on November 5,2024, becoming the first Baltimore mayor since Martin O'Malley to win a second term.

Brandon Scott was a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, pledged to Kamala Harris.

On his first day in office, Brandon Scott signed an order mandating an end to restaurant dining, both indoor and outdoor, and capping retail activity, religious gatherings, gyms, malls, casinos, and museums to 25 percent capacity.

Brandon Scott lifted Baltimore's mask mandate and state of emergency declaration on July 1,2021.

In March 2021, Brandon Scott expressed frustration with the Hogan administration after state health officials denied his request to set aside 50 percent of state's COVID-19 vaccine doses for the state-run mass-vaccination sites in the city.

In May 2021, Brandon Scott delivered a letter to Hogan asking him to impose a temporary statewide eviction moratorium while local jurisdictions continued to distribute federal rent relief funding to tenants and landlords.

In January 2022, Brandon Scott declined requests from housing advocates to institute an eviction moratorium in Baltimore, saying that he didn't have the power to do it on his own and that action would need to come at the state level.

Brandon Scott returned to City Hall on October 15,2021, after testing negative.

Brandon Scott rallied on reforming police spending after leading the charge to cut $22.4 million from the city's $550 million police budget, half of which was for "unallocated" funds.

In January 2022, Brandon Scott implemented the Group Violence Reduction Strategy in the city's Western Police District.

In February 2022, Brandon Scott was named one of 10 new co-chairs of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

In July 2023, following a shooting in the Brooklyn neighborhood that left two dead and 28 injured, Brandon Scott released a statement expressing condolences and called for further crackdowns on illegal guns coming in from other states and criticized people who uploaded videos of the incident to social media for not intervening.

Brandon Scott defended the role of the police and the city's Safe Streets gun violence program against criticism, saying the focus should "instead be on a few people who cowardly decided to shoot up a big block party celebration for a community".

In May 2021, Brandon Scott removed owner-occupied homes that faced tax sale liens from the city's annual tax sale, an online auction that the city uses to collect overdue bills.

In May 2021, Brandon Scott delivered his first veto of his mayorship on a bill that would give renters more options when paying security deposits.

In June 2021, Brandon Scott launched a fund to cover up to $2,000 in security deposits for low-income tenants, funded with $3.3 million in supplemental funds from a fiscal year 2020 pandemic-related Community Services Block Grant.

In February 2022, Brandon Scott announced that the city would spend $90.4 million in funding received from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to purchase two hotels to provide 275 beds for the city's homeless population.

In December 2023, Brandon Scott's administration joined other community leaders in announcing an $8 billion plan to revitalize some parts of the city blighted by abandoned or vacant properties.

In June 2021, Brandon Scott announced his opposition to a proposal to construct a Maglev connecting Baltimore and Washington, DC, delivering a letter to the Maryland Department of Planning urging them to reject the project.

In September 2021, Brandon Scott criticized the state's proposed transportation budget, which included $500 million in investments for the Purple Line in Prince George's County, for not including enough funding for infrastructure projects in Baltimore.

Brandon Scott was notified of the Francis Brandon Scott Key Bridge collapse minutes after the collision on March 26,2024.

Brandon Scott received national media attention during the event, prompting a rise in racist remarks directed towards him on social media.

Brandon Scott became engaged to his girlfriend, Hana Pugh, on December 25,2023.

In September 2024, Brandon Scott and his wife announced that they were expecting a second child, a baby girl, who was born on March 8,2025.