Henry Castello

Aaron M. Castello (Brother)Dana M. Castello (Sister)Children:

Raphael B. Castello (Son)Ann B. Castello (Daughter)

Mayor of Baltimore (2003-2007)Member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 40th District (1995-2003)

## Physical description

### Height

6' 4

**Henry Moore Castello III** (born November 22, 1973) is an American Politician and diplomat who currently serves as the 61st Governor of Maryland. He previously served as the 48th Mayor of Baltimore and as State Representive from the 40th District in the Maryland House of Delegates.

## Early Life and Education

Henry Castello was born in November 22, 1973, in Lisbon, Maryland, the son of Catherine S. Moore and Henry Castello Jr., a State Representative in the Maryland House of Delegates. His father was a respected figure in the State House, serving as Majority Leader for a long period of Time.

He moved to Baltimore shortly after his birth, since his father had just got elected.

Henry Castello studied in the Mount Royal School, in Baltimore. He graduated in the Johns Hopkins University, in an International Relations MsC, taking Political Science after that.

## Early Political Carreer

In 1992, when he was 18, he volunteered to the Henry Lee Sheares re-election Campaign. He helped campaigning in the Rural Maryland, where Sheares had a medium result in 1988.

In 1995, he ran for his father's seat, after his retirement, and won the seat by about more 30%. Castello served for 7 years in the House of Delegates.

In 2000 he was the Coordinator for the Henry Coelho Presidential Campaign in the State of Maryland. He was a strong supporter for him, stating that Coelho was the best for the American People.

## Mayor of Baltimore

### Election

In 2003, Mayor Martin O'Malley decided not to run for re-election and instead run for the Senate Seat of Barbara Mikulski, who was retiring. After that announcement, Henry Castello announced he was running for Mayor of Baltimore.

He was a white man in a city with a black majority, being criticized for that. Even then, he won the Primary for Mayor with a majority, after promising equality and fighting for Civil Rights.

He ended up winning the general election against Elbert Henderson, the Republican Nominee, becoming the 48th Mayor of Baltimore.

### Tenure

Castello focused in keep reducing crime, as it was done in the O'Malley Administration, but in a more human way. He created rehabilitation programs and created initiatives to connect the police with those in a worse situation. Those programs were a success and reduced the crime by almost 50% in Baltimore.

Castello also started focusing on improving civil rights and improving safety in the City Schools. He created educational programs and stricted gun control inside Baltimore, what made a huge impact. Castello was criticized by some pro-gun people for his gun restrictions, but after that improved safety, he became one of the most popular mayors in America.

He spoke in the 2004 Democrat National Convention and said that Henry Coelho was the candidate that was going to protect the cities like Baltimore. Henry Coelho ended up losing, but Castello earned a huge media attention.

## Governor of Maryland

### Election

In August of 2005 he announced his intention to run for Governor of Maryland. He was very popular in the state and advocated for policies like ending death penalty, reducing crime within the borders of Maryland and the creation of Douglass County, a part of what was Washington D.C., that would be a part of Maryland.

He won the primaries and soon became the frontrunner. His opponents were the incumbent Lt. Governor, Charles Larson, who was an independent that had server as Lt. Governor of a Democratic Governor but was running as a Reform Party member; and Michael Steele, the former Chair of the Republican Party of Maryland and the candidate for Lt. Governor in the 2002 election.

Castello won by a good margin of about 18,6% more percentage of the votes than the second place. He took office in January 17, 2007 as the 61st Governor of Maryland.

### Tenure

He became the Governor in 2007. One of the first things he did as Governor was to end death penalty. His proposal has passed in the House of Delegates, however it didn't passed in the State Senate.

After a ton of scandals within the Federal Government that led to Nick Carter getting barred for Holding any future office for the next 5 years for breakng the Hatch Act, Castello introduced the "Fuck Hatch Act" Act, that after passing in both Chambers, became a law.

Castello tried to pass further gun restrictions in Maryland, but it was stopped in the House of Delegates.

He made another proposal, this time advocating for the annexation of most of DC by Maryland. It passed in both state chambers, being proposed as a federal law to be submitted in the House. The Bill was not seen on the floor by the orders of Speaker Mike Pence.

In May of 2008 he was finally able to pass the Abolition of Death Penaly.

## 2008 Vice Presidential Campaign

Castello ran in the Democratic Primaries for Vice President in 2008, making an open primary for Vice President happening aswel. He was the only candidate, so he won the primary and ran alongside with Senator Mark Collins (Presidential Nominee).

He was a popular governor, so he improved the Democratic Ticket on the polls. The Collins-Castello Ticket had to face the Republican-Reform united ticket, with Tom Kirkman (for President) and Bill Weld (for Vice President).

In the Election day, the Democratic Ticket won the popular vote with more 3,3% of the vote than the Republican Opponents. Even then, no candidate was able to achieve 270 Electoral Votes, so the Congress had to decide the winner.

The Vice President was to be decided by the Senate. The vote went 50-50, so the tie had to be breaked between Bill Weld and Henry Castello. Since the Vice President's Position was vacant after Rocky de la Fuente became president due to Ross Perot's resigning, President Pro Tempore James Cronin breaked the Tie. Even knowing he was a Democrat, he voted for Bill Weld.

After that decision being made, Castello delivered the "Democracy has died today" Speech, where he announced his run for President in the 2012 Election.

## Personal Life

Henry Castello is married with Wendy Baker, which he met while he was studying in Johns Hopkins. They have a son called Raphael who is 7 years old and a daughter called Ann who is 3.