Maryland Chatters Ep. 02, Brandon Scott and Unlucky Bill Numbers
Brandon M. Scott is a “son of Baltimore.”
Growing up in Park Heights, Scott says he was drawn to run for public office in the city when he was a child and watched the world descend on his neighborhood for a famous horse race once a year, when every other day he and his friends and family struggled for basic needs, like heat or AC in their schools.
“It changes you,” Scott said.
And now, at 36, Scott next month will become Baltimore’s youngest mayor in more than a century — and will helm a city in the midst of great change. Former mayor Catherine E. Pugh left city hall in scandal a year-and-a-half ago. In the wake, the city council and Scott proposed a series of governmental reforms, all overwhelmingly approved by voters at the polls.
Maryland Matters’ Bennett Leckrone caught up with Scott about his win and plans for governing earlier this week.
We also check in with Maryland Matters Editor Josh Kurtz about the news of the week, including other election outcomes, Maryland Republicans’ attitudes on the presidential race, what the 2021 General Assembly session will look like, the loss of another top public health official in state government, and, on a lighter note on this Friday the 13th, a tally of the fate of so-called unlucky bill numbers.