Mayor Martin O?Malley garnered important grassroots supports Wednesday for his gubernatorial campaign, as ACORN PAC, the political action committee of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an advocacy group that represents low-income residents in Maryland, endorsed the O?Malley for governor campaign.
“Martin O?Malley is the best candidate for the hardworking families of Maryland and the best candidate to turn around the regressive policies of Bob Ehrlich,” said Gloria Swieringa, an organizer for the group.
The endorsement ? which comes on the heels of Josh White, former chairman of the Democrat Party, assuming the reigns of the campaign from former campaign manager Jonathan Epstein ? was welcomed by O?Malley.
“We can do better for hardworking families if we have leadership that works for them instead of the big corporate interests,” O?Malley said in a statement.
Acorn has 6,000 members statewide, and is a well-known advocacy group that focuses on low- to moderate-income family issues like tenant rights and eliminating lead poisoning.
The Maryland chapter, which is part of a national organization that has 185,000 members, touted a “progressive” agenda in its written endorsement.
Sonja Merchant, an ACORN PAC leader in Baltimore city, said that they endorsed the O?Malley-Brown ticket to further the goals of her organization.
“ACORN PAC supports Martin O?Malley and Anthony Brown because we believe that they will address issues key facing low- and moderate-income families including the need for progress on utility reform, predatory lending, healthy homes, fair wages and working conditions, and affordable housing,” she said.
