Catherine Pugh

In 1999 Pugh was elected to the Baltimore City Council, where she served until 2004. She ran for president of the council in 2003, but lost to Sheila Dixon in the primary.

Pugh with Governor Hogan at the 2016 State of the State Reception

In 2005, Governor Bob Ehrlich appointed Pugh to an open seat in the Maryland House of Delegates, where she served from June 21, 2005, to January 10, 2007. She then won a seat in the State Senate and served there from January 10, 2007, to December 6, 2016. She sat on the Finance Committee and served as the State Senate Majority Leader. As Majority Leader, Pugh led 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 black and other minority managed dollars from $300 million to $4.2 billion.[19] Pugh is a former 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.

In 2015, Pugh entered the race for mayor of Baltimore and launched her campaign headquarters in the city.[20] She was an underdog to former mayor Sheila Dixon until the early 2016. The endorsement of Congressman Elijah Cummings in April 2016 boosted her campaigning efforts.[21] Pugh won the Democratic primary, with 37% of the vote to Dixon's 34%. The Democratic primary has long been the real contest in Baltimore, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10-to-1, so Pugh was overwhelmingly favored in the general election.[22] She won the November 8 general election with 57% of the vote, and took office on December 6, 2016.[4]

Pugh succeeded Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as Baltimore's 51st mayor. As mayor, she inherited several issues from the Rawlings-Blake administration. Pugh prioritized the United States Department of Justice investigation into the Baltimore Police Department following the death of Freddie Gray, before the inauguration of Donald Trump.[23][24] In April 2017, Judge James K. Bredar approved the consent decree signed by Pugh and former acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, rejecting an objection by new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.[25]

Additional issues the Pugh administration faced included Baltimore's crime levels, vacant housing and revitalization development, and the cancellation of the Baltimore Red Line and launch of Governor Larry Hogan's BaltimoreLink bus system overhaul. Despite supporting it during her campaign, Pugh vetoed a bill to increase Baltimore's minimum wage to $15 per hour over five years, citing concerns about businesses moving out of the city and adverse effects on nonprofits and small businesses. Ricarra Jones, chairwoman of the Fight for $15 Baltimore Coalition, responded to the veto, "As a state senator, Mayor Pugh was a strong supporter of a livable minimum wage and explicitly promised to sign the Baltimore wage bill as mayor. Today, she has made clear that promises are made to be broken."[26]

In July 2017, Pugh along with other city leaders announced a mandatory one-year sentence for illegal possession of a gun in many parts of Baltimore. The move was seen as an attempt to address the city's soaring violence rate.[27] The Baltimore city council voted to water down the legislation.[28]

University of Maryland Medical Center in Downtown Baltimore

In March 2019, Pugh agreed to accept $500,000 from the University of Maryland Medical System while serving as a trustee to purchase her Healthy Holly self-published books to donate to Baltimore schoolchildren. This no-bid payment was controversial because the years of payments coincided with her tenure as head of a health committee in the Maryland State Senate and as mayor of Baltimore. She did not disclose the payments or recuse herself from votes and decisions involving the medical system. Maryland legislative leaders pledged to reform the medical center's practice of giving large contracts to trustees due to the conflict it poses to their decision-making, which includes approving a $4 million salary to the institution's CEO.[29] Pugh received $500,000 from the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) for 100,000 copies of her books. However, the firm printing the publication confirmed it had printed only 60,000 copies.[30]

Pugh initially said that the University of Maryland Medical System were her only book sales, but on April 1, 2019, the Baltimore Sun reported that Kaiser Permanente paid more than $100,000 for copies of the book, and a nonprofit called Associated Black Charities paid Pugh's organization nearly $80,000 for copies of the book. Both organizations do business with the city of Baltimore. Associated Black Charities in turn resold some of its copies to other organizations, including CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, another Baltimore insurer.[31][32]

On April 8, 2019, all members of the Baltimore City Council signed a memorandum calling for Pugh to resign as mayor.[33] Pugh said she intended to return to office following her leave of absence due to illness.

On April 25, 2019, FBI and IRS agents raided six locations, including two houses owned by Pugh, Baltimore City Hall, and a nonprofit organization on whose board Pugh served.[34]

On May 2, 2019, Pugh resigned as Mayor of Baltimore.[35] On November 20, 2019, she was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy in connection with the Healthy Holly book transactions.[7] The following day she signed a plea agreement, admitting guilt on four counts of tax evasion and conspiracy.[3][8]

On February 27, 2020, Pugh was sentenced to three years in prison to be followed by three years of probation.[9] U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow ordered Pugh to pay $412,000 in restitution. Additionally, Pugh will forfeit nearly $670,000, including her Ashburton home and the remaining balance of her campaign account totaling $17,800. Pugh has also agreed that all copies of Healthy Holly in government custody will be destroyed.[9][36] She was granted several extensions to delay the start of her prison sentence.[37][38] On June 26, 2020, Pugh reported to prison at Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville, Alabama.[39][40] According to the Federal Bureau of Prison inmate system, Pugh was released on April 1, 2022.