| Post: | Mayor |
| Body: | the City of Baltimore |
| Flag: | Flag of Baltimore, Maryland.svg |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of Baltimore |
| Flagborder: | yes |
| Insignia: | Seal of Baltimore, Maryland.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 100px |
| Insigniacaption: | Seal of Baltimore |
| Incumbent: | Brandon Scott |
| Incumbentsince: | December 8, 2020 |
| Residence: | Private residence |
| Termlength: | Four years |
| Formation: | 1797 |
| Inaugural: | James Calhoun 1794 |
The mayor of Baltimore is the head of the executive branch of the government of the City of Baltimore, Maryland. The Mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills, ordinances, or resolutions passed by the unicameral Baltimore City Council. In addition, the Mayor oversees all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and shares with the Governor of Maryland, responsibilities for the public school system within the city limits. As of December 8, 2020, the Office of the mayor of the City of Baltimore has changed hands 62 times with 53 different individuals in assuming office in the 223 years of city government, 1797–2020. The Office of the Mayor is located in the historic Baltimore City Hall located at 100 Holliday Street in downtown Baltimore.
James Calhoun was first elected in 1794 under the old Baltimore Town government with a group of town commissioners, and continued as the first mayor under the new City Charter in 1796–97, when the city was incorporated as the "City of Baltimore" under the authority of the Maryland General Assembly, which had originally authorized the port in 1706 and the creation of a town in 1729 and its laying out in early 1730. Calhoun continued to serve for another seven years until 1804.
Baltimore had been the county seat of surrounding Baltimore County, which had been "erected" (authorized) in 1659 as the fifth county designated in the Province of Maryland and first county in northern Maryland, since finagling a scheme to move the courthouse from old Joppa in 1767. The city was separated from the adjacent County by the provisions of the new second Maryland Constitution of 1851 and became an independent city with the same status as the other 22 (later 23) counties of Maryland. Then the seat for Baltimore County was moved after a referendum to Towsontown (later Towson), a few miles north of Baltimore, with the building there in 1854 of its first courthouse structure.
Six individuals are credited with multiple, non-consecutive returns to the office after completing an initial term, and are counted as separate mayoralties. These are:Edward Johnson (twice), John Montgomery, Ferdinand C. Latrobe (elected four times), Howard W. Jackson, William F. Broening, and Theodore R. McKeldin.
The mayor was originally elected to a term of two years under the original City Charter of 1796–1797. In 1920, the charter was amended so the mayor serves a term of four years.[1] There are no limits on the number of terms a mayor may serve.
For years, the mayor was elected in the year immediately preceding the presidential election. However, in 2012, the 2015 election was postponed to 2016 in order to better align with national elections. As a result, incumbent Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had her term extended an additional year. An earlier attempt to move the mayoral election to the same year as presidential elections was made in 1999, but went awry when the General Assembly refused to move the primary election. As a result, then-incumbent Martin O'Malley was nominated for a second term in 2003, then had to wait over a year to run in and win the general election.[2]
Baltimore has experienced major turnover in the mayor's office in recent years, in large part due to corruption scandals. In September 2015, incumbent mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced she would not seek re-election, setting up a hotly-contested primary election in the heavily Democratic city in 2016.[3] Maryland State Senator Catherine Pugh defeated former mayor Shelia Dixon, who resigned from office in 2010 after pleading guilty to misappropriating holiday gift cards intended to serve poor Baltimore residents. Pugh easily defeated Republican Alan Walden and Green Party candidate Joshua Harris to become the 50th Mayor of Baltimore, and was sworn in on December 6, 2016. Pugh resigned on May 2, 2019, amid a scandal in which Pugh was accused of, and eventually pled guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion regarding a scheme to sell copies of a self-published children's book series, known as Healthy Holly, to the University of Maryland Medical System without competition.[4] Upon Pugh's resignation, then-City Council President Jack Young took over as Mayor. In the 2020 Democratic primary, Young went up against Dixon, his successor as City Council President Brandon Scott, former T. Rowe Price executive and Obama administration Treasury Department official Mary Miller, former federal prosecutor and deputy Attorney General of Maryland Thiruvendran Vignarajah. Scott narrowly edged out Dixon, with Young finishing a distant fifth. Brandon Scott was elected with more than 70% of the vote in the November general election, and was sworn in as the city's 52nd Mayor on December 8, 2020.
Some well-known political and historical figures to have held the office of Mayor of Baltimore include:
| Portrait | Mayor | Term start | Term end | Terms | class=unsortable | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1797 | 1804 | 5 | None | |||||||
| 1804 | 1808 | 2 | None | |||||||
| 1808 | 1816 | 4 | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | ||||||
| George Stiles | 1816 | 1819 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | Resigned during second term, died shortly after. | ||||
| 1819 | 1820 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | Elected by the 1818 electors to finish out Mayor Stiles' term. | |||||
| 1820 | 1822 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | ||||||
| 1822 | 1824 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | ||||||
| 1824 | 1826 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | ||||||
| 1826 | 1831 | 2 | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | Resigned from office. | |||||
| 1831 | 1832 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic-Republican | Elected by the 1830 electors to finish out Mayor Small's term. | |||||
| 1832 | 1835 | 1 | bgcolor= | Whig | Resigned from office. | |||||
| 1835 | 1838 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | First elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Hunt's term, elected to a full term in 1836. | |||||
| 1838 | 1840 | 1 | bgcolor= | Whig | ||||||
| Samuel Brady | 1840 | 1842 | Partial | bgcolor= | Whig | Resigned from office. | ||||
| 1842 | 1843 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | First elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Brady's term, elected to a full term in 1842. Resigned from office. | |||||
| 1843 | 1844 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | Elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Hillen's term. | |||||
| 1844 | 1848 | 2 | bgcolor= | Whig | ||||||
| 1848 | 1850 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1850 | 1852 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1852 | 1854 | 1 | bgcolor= | Whig | ||||||
| 1854 | 1856 | 1 | bgcolor= | American | ||||||
| 1856 | 1860 | 2 | bgcolor= | American | ||||||
| 1860 | 1861 | Partial | bgcolor= | Constitutional Union | Arrested and removed from office by the Union Army for Confederate sympathies. | |||||
| 1861 | 1861 | Partial | None | President of the First Branch of the City Council and served as Mayor Ex Officio from Mayor Brown's arrest until October 1861. | ||||||
| Charles J. Baker | 1861 | 1862 | Partial | None | Served as Mayor Ex Officio from October 1861 to January 1862, when Chapman was elected until the new First Branch organized and elected a President in January 1862. He was not recognized as an acting mayor until 1989.[5] [6] | |||||
| 1862 | 1867 | 3 | bgcolor= | Republican | President of the First Branch of the City Council and served as Mayor Ex Officio from January to November 1862. Elected to three terms. His final term was reduced from two years to one year per the new Maryland Constitution. | |||||
| 1867 | 1871 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | The Maryland Constitution of 1867 extended the term of office from two to four years. The term was reduced back to two years in 1870. | |||||
| 1871 | 1875 | 2 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1875 | 1877 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1877 | 1878 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | Died in office. | |||||
| 1878 | 1881 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | First elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Kane's term, elected to a full term in 1879. | |||||
| 1881 | 1883 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1883 | 1885 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1885 | 1887 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | ||||||
| 1887 | 1889 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1889 | 1891 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1891 | 1895 | 2 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1895 | 1897 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | ||||||
| 1897 | 1899 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | ||||||
| 1899 | 1903 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | ||||||
| 1903 | 1904 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | Died in office. | |||||
| 1904 | 1907 | Partial | bgcolor= | Republican | President of the Second Branch. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Mayor McLane's death. | |||||
| 1907 | 1911 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Lost reelection. | |||||
| 1911 | 1919 | 2 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Lost reelection. | |||||
| 1919 | 1923 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | Lost reelection. | |||||
| 1923 | 1927 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Did not run for reelection. | |||||
| 1927 | 1931 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | Did not run for reelection. | |||||
| 1931 | 1943 | 3 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Lost reelection in 1943. | |||||
| 1943 | 1947 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | Did not run for reelection. | |||||
| Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. | 1947 | 1959 | 3 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Lost reelection in 1959. | ||||
| 1959 | 1962 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | Resigned following appointment as a Judge to the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City (Circuit Court). | |||||
| 1962 | 1963 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | City Council President. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Grady's resignation. Lost reelection to a full term. | |||||
| Theodore McKeldin | 1963 | 1967 | 1 | bgcolor= | Republican | Did not run for reelection. | ||||
| Thomas D'Alesandro III | 1967 | 1971 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Did not run for reelection. | ||||
| 1971 | 1987 | 4 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Baltimore's longest-serving mayor. Resigned following his election as governor. | |||||
| Clarence H. Burns | 1987 | 1987 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | City Council President. First African-American mayor of Baltimore. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Schaefer's resignation. Lost reelection to a full term. | ||||
| 1987 | 1999 | 3 | bgcolor= | Democratic | First African-American elected Mayor of Baltimore. Did not run for reelection in 1999. | |||||
| Martin O'Malley | 1999 | 2007 | 2 | bgcolor= | Democratic | Resigned following his election as governor. | ||||
| 2007 | 2010 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | City Council President. First female Mayor of Baltimore and first female elected Mayor of Baltimore. Succeeded to the mayoralty following O'Malley's resignation. Elected to a full term in 2007. Resigned from office in January 2010. | |||||
| 2010 | 2016 | 1 | bgcolor= | Democratic | City Council President. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Dixon's resignation. Elected to a full term in 2011. Did not run for reelection in 2016. | |||||
| Catherine Pugh | 2016 | 2019 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | Resigned from office May 2, 2019.[7] | ||||
| Jack Young | 2019 | 2020 | Partial | bgcolor= | Democratic | City Council President. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Pugh's resignation. | ||||
| 2020 | Incumbent | bgcolor= | Democratic | Inaugurated on December 8, 2020 |