# Erek Barron

Erek Lawrence Barron (born 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 2021 to 2025. He is a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 24th district.

## Early life and education

Barron was born in 1974 in Washington, D.C., and attended the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1996, he graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Three years later, he earned a Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School and was admitted to the Maryland Bar the same year. He later earned a Master of Laws, with a focus on International Law and National Security Law, from Georgetown University Law Center.

## Career

Barron has worked for the Maryland law firm of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and is a member of the American Bar Association. Barron is a former prosecutor and has worked as an assistant state's attorney for Prince George's County and Baltimore City (2001–2006), a trial attorney in United States Department of Justice (2006–2007), and counsel and policy advisor to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and Senator Joe Biden (2007–2009).

### Maryland legislature

Barron first won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2014. He was sworn into office on January 14, 2015. In 2015, he and three other male legislators joined the Women's Legislators of Maryland Caucus, becoming the first men to join a women's caucus in the United States.
In 2019, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Adrienne A. Jones appointed Barron to chair the Joint Committee on Fair Practices. In this capacity, he investigated the circumstances surrounding the $238,250 severance package paid to Roy McGrath, the former director of the Maryland Environmental Service and the chief of staff of Governor Larry Hogan. Barron later recused himself from the McGrath case after becoming U.S. attorney, citing his role in the investigation.

#### Committee assignments

* Co-chair, Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight, 2019–2021
* Member, Health and Government Operations Committee, 2015–2021 (health facilities & occupations subcommittee, 2015–2016; government operations & long-term care subcommittee, 2015–2017; estates & trusts subcommittee, 2016–2017; government operations & estates & trusts subcommittee, 2017–2019; public health & minority health disparities subcommittee, 2017–2021; government operations & health facilities subcommittee, 2020–2021)
* Member, Legislative Policy Committee, 2020–2021

### U.S. attorney for Maryland

On July 26, 2021, Barron was nominated to be the United States attorney for the District of Maryland. On September 23, 2021, his nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote. On September 30, 2021, his nomination was confirmed in the United States Senate by voice vote. On October 7, 2021, he was sworn into office by Chief Judge James K. Bredar. He is Maryland's first Black U.S. attorney.
During his tenure, Barron employed a plan for addressing violent crime in Baltimore through an "Al Capone model of prosecution", which included new hires for the office's violent and organized crime section, actively reviewing firearms cases for violations of the federal school zone statute, and pursuing repeat violent offenders "for any and all wrongdoing that meets our priorities, especially fraud". His office also focused on prosecuting COVID-19 fraud and partnering with state and local officials to prosecute violent crime, which contributed to significant decreases in homicides and non-fatal shootings in Baltimore in 2023 and 2024, as well as a 41% decrease in statewide homicides from 2021 to 2024. Barron also oversaw efforts to diversify the U.S. attorney's office, which had been predominately White and faced accusations of failing to reflect the demographics of Maryland.
Barron inherited cases against Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, former Hogan chief of staff Roy McGrath, and Baltimore attorney Stephen Snyder, and sought to prosecute Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins on illegal firearms charges. He was also involved with legal efforts following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
In January 2025, Bloomberg Law interviewed 25 current and former employees in the Maryland U.S. attorney's office found a pattern of management challenges under Barron's leadership, including low employee morale, communication failures, historic lows in new criminal cases brought, and complaints about office leadership from judges and officials at the highest level of the Justice Department. According to Justice Department metrics analyzed by Bloomberg, Barron's office recorded its lowest levels of new criminal cases and defendants filed in at least 50 years during fiscal 2022 and 2023, and a 48% decline in criminal filings in the year ending mid-2024, the largest one-year drop of all 94 districts.
In the final months of his tenure, Barron sought to find common ground with Maryland Republicans that had connections to incoming President Donald Trump, while many of Barron's allies—including U.S. representatives Kweisi Mfume and Andy Harris, Baltimore State's Attorney Ivan Bates, and Baltimore civil rights attorney Billy Murphy Jr.—conducted an unsuccessful lobbying campaign aimed at allowing Barron to continue serving as U.S. attorney under Trump. Barron resigned as U.S. Attorney on February 12, 2025. His first assistant, Phil Selden, briefly served as acting U.S. attorney until Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Kelly O. Hayes as the interim U.S. attorney.

## Political positions
### Criminal justice

During the 2016 legislative session, Barron pushed for the Justice Reinvestment Act to include a repeal of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. In March, the House Judiciary Committee voted 17–3 to adopt the "Barron-Wilson amendment" repealing mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders while increasing penalties for leaders of gangs and organized crime. He also introduced legislation to prohibit public and private colleges and universities from including questions about criminal history on their applications.
In August 2016, Barron and four other state legislators sent a joint letter to Attorney General Brian Frosh to review the constitutionality of setting bail without considering whether a defendant could afford to pay under the 14th Amendment. The Attorney General's office responded to the letter in October by issuing an opinion stating that such a system was a possible violation of due process. In November, the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Maryland Court of Appeals voted 18–5 to recommend a policy change to prohibit Maryland judges from setting bail that is too high for defendants to pay unless the defendant is considered a flight risk or a danger to society. In February 2017, the Court of Appeals voted unanimously to adopt the rule change. During the 2017 legislative session, Barron sought to enshrine the court rule change into law.
During the 2019 legislative session, Barron introduced legislation to ease the process for prosecutors looking to overturn convictions deemed to be tainted or unjust. The bill passed and became law. He also introduced a bill to require county jails to provide addiction screening, counseling, and treatment with the use of methadone, Suboxone, and Vivitrol. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan on May 13, 2019.
During the 2020 legislative session, Barron introduced legislation to ease restrictions on when prosecutors could use hearsay evidence in cases of witness intimidation, and another bill to designate witness intimidation a crime of violence.

### National politics

In April 2019, Barron and state Senator James Rosapepe launched "Biden for Maryland", becoming the first two Maryland lawmakers to endorse his bid for president.

### Transportation

In May 2016, Barron and Marc Korman released a list of Metro reform proposals, including ideas involving dedicated funding, the make-up of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board, and vendors in stations to boost revenue. During the 2018 legislative session, he introduced legislation to raise the state's annual contribution to Metro by $125 million a year if Virginia and the Washington, D.C. agreed to do the same.

## Electoral history

Maryland House of Delegates District 24 election, 2014 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Democratic | Carolyn J. B. Howard (incumbent) | 25,869 | 34.1 |
| Democratic | Michael L. Vaughn (incumbent) | 23,772 | 31.3 |
| Democratic | Erek Barron | 23,450 | 30.9 |
| Republican | Cy Okoro | 2,737 | 3.6 |
| Write-in | Write-in | 116 | 0.2 |
Maryland House of Delegates District 24 election, 2018 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Democratic | Andrea Harrison | 38,365 | 36.7 |
| Democratic | Erek Barron (incumbent) | 33,069 | 31.7 |
| Democratic | Jazz Lewis (incumbent) | 32,406 | 31.0 |
| Write-in | Write-in | 586 | 0.6 |