Anthony Gregory Brown (born November 21, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the attorney general of Maryland. He also served as the U.S. representative for Maryland's 4th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, his district covered most of the majority-black precincts in Prince George's County, as well as a sliver of Anne Arundel County.
Brown previously served two four-year terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Prince George's County from 1999 to 2007, as well as two terms as the eighth lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. He was elected to the lieutenant governorship in 2006 on the Democratic ticket with Governor Martin O'Malley; both were re-elected in 2010. In 2014, Brown ran unsuccessfully for the governorship, losing to Republican nominee Larry Hogan.
In October 2021, Brown announced that he would not seek reelection to the U.S. House in 2022 and would instead run for attorney general of Maryland. He won the Democratic primary on July 19, 2022. He defeated Republican lawyer Michael Peroutka in the general election on November 8, 2022, becoming Maryland's first Black attorney general.
He is a retired colonel in the United States Army Reserve, having served in the U.S. Army for over thirty years. While lieutenant governor, Brown was the highest-ranking elected official in the nation to have served a tour of duty in Iraq.
Early life and education
Brown was born in 1961 in Huntington, New York, to immigrant parents. His father, Roy Hershel Brown, a physician, was born in Cayo Mambi, Cuba; was raised in Kingston, Jamaica; and later came to the U.S. to attend Fordham University. Roy received his medical degree in Zurich, Switzerland, where he also met his future wife, Lilly I. Berlinger. The couple married and Lilly moved with Brown to New York, where they had Anthony, his sister, and three brothers.
The family lived in Huntington, New York, in Suffolk County on Long Island, where Anthony attended public schools, graduating from Huntington High School in 1979. In his senior year, Brown became the first African American to be elected president of Huntington High School's student council. After high school, Brown started at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he had an appointment. He quickly switched to Harvard College, where he majored in government and resided in Quincy House. At Harvard, Brown served on the Student Advisory Committee at Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. Since Harvard did not offer ROTC at the time, in his second year, Brown enrolled in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program at MIT and earned a two-year scholarship. In 1984, Brown graduated with an A.B. cum laude, and as a Distinguished Military Graduate.
Military career
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. He also completed airborne training, receiving both the Basic Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge. During his time on active duty, Brown served as a helicopter pilot with the Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in Europe. During that period of active duty, Brown held positions as platoon leader for a target acquisition, reconnaissance and surveillance platoon, executive officer of a general support aviation company, a battalion logistics officer, and the flight operations officer for Task Force 23.
Law school and legal career
After completing his active duty service, Brown returned to graduate school, entering Harvard Law School in 1989 and earning his JD degree. He attended Harvard Law School at the same time as future President Barack Obama, Artur Davis and actor Hill Harper. Brown was a member of the Board of Student Advisers. His third-year paper, written under the supervision of Professor Charles Ogletree, analyzed the scope of the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable search and seizure in the military. Brown was chair of the Membership Committee of the Black Law Students Association. Brown graduated from Harvard Law, with a Juris Doctor in 1992.