After eight years of receiving crucial support for his mayoral administration, Gov. Martin O'Malley came to Baltimore yesterday to return the favor to Mayor Sheila Dixon.
O'Malley joined former Rep. Kweisi Mfume in officially endorsing Dixon, lending her mayoral campaign the biggest names to date with less than a month before the Democratic primary.
Standing outside of City Hall in War Memorial Plaza, the trio emerged to the 1980s classic song "Eye of the Tiger," where they were joined by a legion of city and state elected officials.
Both Mfume and O'Malley reflected on Dixon and her family's support of their own candidacies.
For Mfume, that support dates to Dixon's mother's backing in his 1979 City Council campaign, continuing with Dixon's help on his 1986 congressional campaign and failed campaign for U.S. Senate last year. For O'Malley, the partnership evolved when he was elected mayor and she City Council president in 1999.
"During my time as mayor ... I could not have accomplished anything were it not for the openness, the candor, the honesty and the partnership extended to me by Sheila Dixon, your next mayor," said O'Malley. "I can tell you that Sheila Dixon, in the toughest of times, maintained partnership in order that the city might progress."
Dixon's chief opponent, Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., said yesterday he is surprised that O'Malley decided to endorse the mayor, saying he had anticipated that the governor - whom he campaigned for last year - would choose not to publicly back anyone. He quickly charged that the endorsement brands Dixon as the "establishment" candidate for those who are satisfied with the city's current schools and surge in violent crime.
Dixon, who served on the council with O'Malley, was elevated to mayor in January when O'Malley was elected governor.
She is one of eight candidates in the Sept. 11 Democratic mayoral primary. Others include Mitchell, state Del. Jill P. Carter, Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway Sr. and schools administrator Andrey Bundley.
Dixon acknowledged that when she and O'Malley served on the council, they were on opposite sides.
"We were on different sides and that was just based on the environment at that time," said Dixon. "But when he ran for mayor and I ran for City Council president, we agreed that we were going to change the environment in the political arena in this city government to move this city forward."
