BALTIMORE _ Mayor Catherine E. Pugh was sworn in as Baltimore's 50th mayor Tuesday. She pledged to steer investment to long-neglected neighborhoods and serve as the city's biggest cheerleader.
Pugh _ who takes over for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake _ took the oath of office during an 11 a.m. ceremony at the War Memorial, where she was joined by Gov. Larry Hogan, retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch.
Court of Appeals Judge Shirley Watts administered the oath of office and Rep. Elijah Cummings introduced the new mayor.
"I cannot be more excited, more enthusiastic, more blessed," Pugh, 66, said. "I believe everything I have done to this moment has prepared me for this particular point in time."
She promised to work with leaders across Maryland to improve the city.
"What happens to Baltimore happens in the rest of the state," she said.
Former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke was the ceremony's emcee. Sen. Ben Cardin and City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young also made remarks.
Hogan told those assembled that he and Pugh have a "shared vision for Baltimore."
The Republican governor said he and the Democratic mayor want world-class schools, a pro-jobs economic climate and safer communities. Later, Pugh told Hogan she was ready to join him on a trip to Washington, where she wants to ask President-elect Donald J. Trump to invest federal money in improving Baltimore's infrastructure.
"Maryland is stronger when our state and local leaders work together and we agree to put aside partisanship," Hogan said. "This morning, I am incredibly hopeful about the future."
Mikulski, a Democrat, said Pugh was already off to a good start. The senior senator praised the new mayor for showing "common sense" leadership by moving the inauguration ceremony indoors when rain was forecast. Mikulski also thanked Rawlings-Blake, saying she "worked her heart out" as Baltimore's mayor.
Cummings, whom Pugh join in Penn North during the riot that followed Freddie Gray's death, said the new mayor would "shine a light" on the city.
"We are asking you today to make our dreams your dreams," Cummings said.
Rawlings-Blake, who has served as mayor since February 2010, did not seek re-election.
A new City Council will be sworn in at 10 a.m. Thursday at the War Memorial.
Pugh, a longtime resident of Northwest Baltimore's Ashburton neighborhood, was elected to the state Senate in 2007. She served in the House of Delegates from 2005 to 2007 and on the Baltimore City Council from 1999 to 2004.
She is one of seven children, the daughter of a union laborer in a rubber factory who died from asbestos exposure 40 years ago.
Her experience is long and varied: She has worked in banking, publishing, public relations and journalism. She was dean and director of Strayer's Business College, now known as Strayer University. She co-owns a Pigtown consignment shop, wrote a series of children's books and helped found the city marathon and Baltimore Design School, a public middle-high school in East Baltimore.
She has repeatedly vowed to work tirelessly to address challenges facing Baltimore, including crime, struggling schools and employment barriers for ex-offenders.
"I offer a vision for a future of hope and change in Baltimore that requires a leader who is committed to hearing every part of the city _ whether it is the business community or the person who has lived in the community for 40 years or the person hurting from drug addiction or the drug dealer who stands on the corner because he hasn't figured out how to change his life," Pugh said when she announced her run for office in September 2015.
She waged a more than $2.4 million election campaign, beating a crowded field in April's Democratic primary and easily winning the November election over Republican Alan Walden, Green Party candidate Joshua Harris and write-in challenger Sheila Dixon, a former mayor.
Pugh previously ran for mayor in 2011, losing to Rawlings-Blake.
In one of her first official acts, Pugh is expected to preside over the city's spending panel, the Board of Estimates, at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
She also faces a series of high-profile issues left unresolved by Rawlings-Blake, including whether to sell downtown parking garages to raise money for recreation centers, whether to bring back speed cameras and whether to tear down Baltimore's Confederate-era monuments.
Pugh also must conclude a potentially costly legal agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to address police misconduct. And she will need to finalize negotiations with the city police union for a new contract.
As top advisers, Pugh has selected former interim city schools CEO Tisha Edwards, Del. Peter Hammen, former Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., former Pennsylvania government official Karen Stokes and longtime public affairs professional Anthony McCarthy.
Edwards will be her chief of staff. Hammen will be her chief of operations. Smith will be chief of strategic alliances. Stokes will be director of government relations and McCarthy will be director of communications.
