Prominent #BlackLivesMatter activist DeRay McKesson is running for mayor of Baltimore and seems to be pretty popular — Beyonce follows him on Twitter and he has been a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It seems that the only people who don’t like McKesson are Baltimore voters.
The Baltimore Sun reported that McKesson is tied for last place in the city’s hotly contested Democratic primary.
Despite all his media attention, celebrity friends, and 317,000 Twitter followers, the #BlackLivesMatter activist is polling at less than one percent, according to the latest poll results.
The city’s election is just seven weeks away, and while a quarter of the voters are still undecided, State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh and former Mayor Sheila Dixon both hold a dominating lead on the other candidates.
Voters want someone who has paid their dues to the city and contributed to its progress, making them less likely to vote for a newcomer like McKesson, according to The Baltimore Sun.
“DeRay McKesson is completely unknown to voters,”said Steve Raabe, president of OpinionWorks, the Annapolis-based firm that conducted the poll. “They want somebody who understands Baltimore, has paid their dues and been around. That’s not to say he can’t introduce himself, but right now, he’s a complete unknown.”
Perhaps “paying their dues” does not include leading a movement that rioted throughout parts of the city and cost millions of dollars in property damage.
