If you were to wish Brandon Scott a happy first Father’s Day, his 8-year-old stepson, Ceron, would be sure to set you straight: This is not the Baltimore mayor’s first.
Scott met Ceron at the same time he met his now-fiancee, Hana Pugh, with whom the 40-year-old mayor has a 6-month-old son, Charm. The infant, who is starting to eat solid foods and roll across the floor, is named after Charm City Live, where Scott and Pugh met in 2022.
Pugh took Ceron, a civics-minded child who has been saying since kindergarten he one day wants to become mayor of Baltimore, to the festival, where he took a picture with Scott and promptly asked for a tour of City Hall. (This year, Scott got to do one better, introducing Ceron to President Joe Biden.)
“In all his interactions with Ceron, like he would kind of get down eye level and talk to him. And I felt like he always like saw him, like he wasn’t talking at him — he was actually engaging with him. And that’s what really drew me in,” Pugh said, joking that Ceron is her wingman. “Ceron was always included. He never made me feel like … ‘Oh, I need to find a sitter to hang out.’”
While this may be Scott’s second Father’s Day, it’s his first since having Charm. Scott and Pugh brought their son into the world roughly five months before Scott won the Democratic primary race for mayor — Charm, sporting headphones, was in attendance at the victory party — and three months before the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, sending the city into mourning for the six lives lost and economic turmoil with the Port of Baltimore essentially paralyzed.
But despite the challenges of guiding Baltimore through recovery while running a reelection campaign and tackling first-time fatherhood to a newborn, those closest to Scott all agree: Being a father is the job the mayor was always meant to hold.
Jabari Bush is the principal of City Neighbors Hamilton, an arts-integrated and project-based elementary and middle school where Ceron will be a third grader in the fall. He’s also known Scott since the two met at track practice early in their freshman year of high school in the late ’90s.
“Brandon didn’t have personal, professional balance. I think this gave it to him,” Bush said of Scott becoming a father. “I’ve never seen him more happy than since he’s been a dad.”
It’s a natural fit for Scott, Bush said, because he’s been around and supporting young people “all our life.”
At the school’s Spring Gallery Night in early June, where students could proudly show off the art and projects they’d produced over the previous semester, Scott was in attendance alongside Pugh and their two boys, Charm sitting calmly in his stroller throughout most of the night. Scott and Pugh reviewed Ceron’s work, both laughing heartily over a haiku Ceron had turned in. At one point, Scott joined Bush and some teenagers playing basketball outside, both of his sons watching from the sidelines.
“I don’t think a beat goes by [that] he’s not interacting with young people in some capacity. … He had no problem jumping up there in that basketball game with those students, just immersing himself in their environment,” Bush said. “I think it’s amazing to pour into other people’s kids. So I think finally, he has his own, so I think that like really sets him off in a positive way.”
Scott agrees, saying he had “never immediately been so happy” as when he watched Charm’s birth.
“Just seeing him just brought like this joy, endless joy, to me that really I haven’t lost since he’s been here,” Scott said.
Both Scott and Pugh say Charm is starting to take after his dad in one major way: If you put on any sports game, especially basketball, it will halt any tantrum Charm is throwing as he immediately shifts his attention to the game. Pugh added that just like his dad, Charm doesn’t like to sit still for too long.
Leading up to Charm’s birth, Scott, Pugh and Ceron already operated like a family, Scott said. Pugh said during her first real conversation with Scott, they talked about their legacies and what a bigger family could look like.
And though this is the first time Scott is parenting an infant, he had helped with his cousins’ newborns before, he said. And he’s also relied on advice from other elected officials raising kids, like state Sen. Cory McCray, a Democrat representing Baltimore City and a father of four. McCray’s sons and daughters range in age from 8 to 16, with two sons, his “campaign babies,” who were born while he was already in office.
McCray, who has been in elected office for 10 years, said he prioritizes family over everything. His greatest piece of advice is to be present and intentional because “those quality moments are so crucial.” While in the House of Delegates in the earlier part of his political career, he would stay in Annapolis between two and four nights a week. These days, he’s home every night.
“My kids are of an age where they need to see their father and I need to be holding on to these moments,” McCray said. “I don’t care if I’m getting out of committee at 11. I don’t care if they have a vote till midnight. I’ve figured out how to make it home, but also figured out how to get back in the car at 6, 6:30 in the morning during session and make my way back.”
Pugh said Scott tries to make it home every night by 8:30 p.m., Ceron’s bedtime. And if he isn’t going to make it, he warns Ceron ahead of time, Pugh added, saying that’s part of the communication that makes their family work. Scott also drops off and picks up Ceron from school the majority of the time.
That’s part of what has made Scott such an “amazing partner” since the couple had Charm, Pugh said.
“He’s proactive. He anticipates things that I would need or things that we would need to bring out of the house with the baby. I feel like I don’t really have to ask him; he just knows,” Pugh said. “As soon as he gets home, he’s just like, ‘OK, you’ve been with the boys all day, I’m gonna take over.’ I never heard him say like, ‘I’m too tired’ or ‘I need a break.’ He just comes home and gets right into dad mode.”
Scott and Pugh also had proactive conversations with Ceron about how life might change with a baby brother in the house.
But they didn’t have to worry: Ceron has taken to being a big brother with ease. At the spring gallery, while Scott played basketball and Pugh answered a reporter’s questions, Ceron kissed and loved on Charm, making the baby laugh and kick his feet.
“When we told him last year that he was going to be a big brother, he literally cried with joy and said he’s been wanting to be a big brother for his entire life,” Scott said. “The best thing is that when we come home from school, and [Charm] hears Ceron talking, he’s immediately looking for him.”
Scott said while he already treated every young person in Baltimore as if they were his own, having sons has driven home his mission to invest in young people. He said his life’s purpose has become even deeper now that he wants to model being the best example of a man he can for his boys.
“He’s going to be the perfect dad. He knows what’s at stake,” McCray said. “And he knows what’s at stake not just for Charm, but all the Charms that’s across the city of Baltimore.”