Profile Summary by Gina Smith
Anthony Gregory Brown has been a trailblazer breaking barriers for most of his life.
Brown was born in 1961 in Huntington, New York, to immigrant parents. In his senior year, Brown became the first African American to be elected president of Huntington High School's student council. In 1984, Brown graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. cum laude, and as a Distinguished Military Graduate through MIT’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps.
Upon graduation, Brown received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served on active duty for five years. He graduated first in his flight class at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and received his aeronautical rating as an Army aviator.
After completing his active-duty service, Brown returned to graduate school, entering Harvard Law School in 1989 and earning his JD degree in 1992. Brown continued his military service transferring from the Army's Aviation Branch to the Judge Advocate General's Corps as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the United States Army Reserve.
In 1994, Brown joined the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering (now WilmerHale). While putting his roots down in Maryland, Brown practiced law with the late John Payton a renowned civil rights attorney and former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Stephen H. Sachs, who was the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 1967 to 1970 and was the 40th Attorney General of Maryland.
Brown's political career began in 1998 when he was elected to serve in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the 25th district in Prince George's County. In 2004, Brown, then a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Brown served in Baghdad, Fallujah, Kirkuk, and Basra with the 353rd Civil Affairs Command and he received the Bronze Star for his distinguished service in Iraq.
In 2006, Brown was elected Lieutenant Governor on a ticket with Martin O'Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore. Brown served two terms as Lieutenant Governor.
In 2014, Brown became the first African American at the top of the democratic ticket for Maryland governor. Although Larry Hogan would win that governor’s race, Brown returned to political office in 2016 earning a seat in the United States House of Representatives for Maryland’s Congressional District 4. During his time in Congress, Brown served on the Committee for Armed Services, Committee on Ethics, Committee on Natural Resources and Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure.
In 2022, Brown successfully ran for Attorney General. On January 3, 2023, Brown was sworn into office becoming Maryland’s first African American Attorney General.
In his current role, Brown will continue to be a leading voice on equity and justice matters building on his past accomplishments which include: fighting to repeal the death penalty in Maryland; decriminalizing marijuana and expanding record expungement; adopting stringent background checks and training requirements for gun sales; banning assault rifles and large capacity magazines; expanding protections for victims of domestic violence and abused and neglected children, and veterans with mental and behavioral health needs; and ensuring transparency and fairness in our policing and criminal justice systems.
In addition to being a veteran and dedicated public servant, Brown is a husband to Karmen Walker and father of three young adults.