Bernard C. Young

Bernard C. "Jack" Young (born June 26, 1954) is an American politician and former mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. A member of the Democratic Party, Young was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1996, representing Baltimore's second district. In 2010, Young became City Council President following Stephanie Rawlings-Blake taking over as mayor due to the indictment of Sheila Dixon. Following Pugh's resignation on May 2, 2019, Young was fully vested as mayor of the city. In October 2019, Young announced that he was running to retain his position as Mayor in the 2020 election. He lost the Democratic nomination for mayor, despite raising more money than the other candidates. Instead, Brandon Scott won the nomination for mayor in the 2020 general election, which he went on to win.

Background Jack Young graduated from Northern High School in Baltimore and attended Baltimore City Community College. Young was originally elected to represent Baltimore City Council District 2 in 1996, which he represented until 2003 when district lines were redrawn. After redistricting, he represented District 12 until he was appointed as City Council President in February 2010 to fill the vacancy left when Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was elevated to mayor.

Career At Johns Hopkins Hospital, Young first worked in the cafeteria and mailroom before joining the radiology department as a file clerk and eventually an administrator, helping digitize the department archives. From 2007 to 2010, Young was a manager at the Maryland Department of Human Resources. He has been a member of the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Council since 1995, and is a co-founder of the Broadway Development Foundation.

Young created controversy in 2009 when he said that "it should be required that all top-level people live in the city," referring to a report by the Baltimore Examiner that most Baltimore City police commanders don't live in the city. On February 1, 2010, WBAL-TV's Jayne Miller reported that Young himself owned a home in Harford County for which he had signed an affidavit that declared the Harford County home was his primary residence. Young said the house in Harford County had served as his summer home until he sold it in 2005.

In February 2010, Councilman Young was unanimously nominated to fill the position of City Council President after former City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was sworn in as Mayor of Baltimore following the resignation of former Mayor Sheila Dixon. On May 2, 2019, Pugh resigned and Young became mayor of the city.

2020 Mayoral race After the first campaign finance reporting date in mid-January 2020, Young led all candidates with $960,000 cash on hand, Thiru Vignarajah reported having about $840,000, Brandon Scott had nearly $430,000 cash on hand and Sheila Dixon had raised $100,000. Despite this, he would eventually finish 5th in the Democratic primary.

Post-mayoral career Following his loss, Young moved to White Marsh. In June 2025, he wrote to members of the Baltimore County Council to oppose a redistricting plan that would create a second majority-Black councilmanic district in the county, calling it gerrymandered, saying that he felt that "compacting a district based on racial demographics" was counterproductive.