Gov. Martin O?Malley on Monday officially endorsed Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, who he said is “hanging in there” during a “rough patch” as the city?s homicide count continues to rise at an alarming rate.
The pair and former U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume strutted across a stage crowded with Baltimore politicians with City Hall as a backdrop and the victory anthem “Eye of the Tiger” blaring. Midrift-baring cheerleaders from Dixon?s alma mater, Northwestern High School, designated her an honorary squad member.
“Mayor Dixon is a leader who has been fighting for the people of this city for as long as I can remember,” O?Malley said. “… We did not always agree on each and every issue but one thing we did agree on was the need to find common ground for the common good.”
The endorsements from O?Malley and Mfume came 30 days before Dixon faces seven other candidates including City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell Jr. and state Del. Jill Carter in the Sept. 11 Democratic primary. Dixon, twice elected as City Council president and appointed mayor when O?Malley was sworn in lastyear, holds a strong fundraising lead over Mitchell, with $1.2 million raised as of Aug. 7 to his $651,000.
Her robust account was evident Monday as her campaign unveiled a Cadillac Escalade with shiny rims and mounted loudspeakers spouting promotional messages. Campaign manager Martha McKenna said the Cadillac is owned by a private supporter. The speakers, she said, Mfume loaned.
“Does she have all the answers? No,” Mfume said. “But she seeks, like all of us, new answers, new ideas by reaching out every day to community leaders and others.”
O?Malley said Dixon has the “tenacity” to overcome critics of her public safety plan as the city?s homicide count this year approaches 200.
Mitchell disagreed.
“It is official the Mitchell campaign is now running against the establishment and those satisfied with the status quo, those satisfied with a rising crime crisis, those satisfied with a broken school system and a 38 percent graduation and those satisfied with a corrupt city government,” Mitchell said in a statement released by his campaign.
