COLUMBIA, SC - APRIL 25: Potential Democratic presidential candidate and former Baltimore mayor and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley cut short a trip to Europe Tuesday to return home to riot-scarred Baltimore, saying through a spokeswoman that he wants to be “with the people in the city that he loves.”
The round-the-clock scenes of rioting and looting — spurred by the death of Freddie Gray, who sustained severe spine injuries while in police custody — don’t reflect the image of Baltimore that O’Malley wants on display as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid next month.
In his travels to early nominating states, O’Malley has described Baltimore to Democratic audiences as a down-on-its-luck city that came to believe in its potential again while he was mayor from 1999 to 2007. He has trumpeted progress made during his tenure, including a steep drop in violent crime that is attributed in part to mass arrests and a zero-tolerance approach.
The mayhem that broke out Monday following Gray’s funeral complicates that narrative. And the unrest has given critics of O’Malley’s aggressive policing strategy a fresh platform to blame him for some of the deep-seated mistrust between the city’s police and the poor communities — more than eight years after he left the mayor’s office.
“It sure isn’t going to help him,” said Gene Raynor, a close friend of former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer (D), who died in 2011, and a longtime O’Malley critic. “I think it does reflect on him.”
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael S. Steele accused O’Malley of contributing to a poisoned atmosphere in Baltimore.
Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, said tensions had simmered for a long time and got worse during O’Malley’s tenure as mayor.
“You couldn’t sit on your stoop, people were harassed, and so all these tensions have been building and simmering for some time,” Steele said. “The trigger, obviously, is the death of Freddie Gray, but there’s systemic issues there.”
It’s impossible to know what will unfold in Baltimore in coming days, and it’s too early to tell what impact the episode will ultimately have on O’Malley, already considered a long shot against fellow Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. But analysts said Tuesday that his list of challenges clearly has grown longer.
Regardless of the reality of his mayoral record, O’Malley could have a harder time convincing voters that he set Baltimore on the right course, said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist who ran Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.
“You’re up against the images people are seeing today, even if you did a great job,” Trippi said. “It’s like talking about climate change when there’s the worst snowstorm in your city’s history. It doesn’t mean you can’t win your case, but it’s a tougher case to win.”
Others, including some activists in early nominating states, said O’Malley might have an opportunity to connect with voters, if he can find a way to speak meaningfully with them on an issue that has become part of the national conversation: Civilian deaths at the hands of police.
“I think it’s an opportunity for [O’Malley] to lead, to talk about this and show people he is a leader,” said Jim Mowrer, vice chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, who has not yet committed to a 2016 presidential candidate.
At a minimum, the unrest in Baltimore brings O’Malley’s tenure as mayor to the forefront. Previously,Mowrer said, “It was something that was part of his resume that people acknowledged and then moved on.”
Phil Noble, an O’Malley supporter in South Carolina, said he thinks voters are sophisticated enough to recognize progress made in Baltimore during O’Malley’s tenure, even if the city is going through troubling times now.
“Surely, it’s not confirmation of some Garden of Eden that’s been created in Baltimore,” Noble said. “But I think it’s a bit of a stretch to blame him for something that happened eight years later.”
Scott Brennan, the former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said he thinks that’s the case as well. “Does this hurt Martin O’Malley in Iowa? No,” Brennan said.
But Matthew Crenson, a professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins University, said he thinks the riots could derail O’Malley’s presidential aspirations.
The zero-tolerance strategy “created a confrontation between police and the communities they’re policing,” said Crenson, who is writing a book about Baltimore. “Young black males felt continually harassed.”
The city abandoned the zero-tolerance approach under O’Malley’s successor, Sheila Dixon (D). “But the culture is still there, the resentments are still there,” Crenson said. “And I think that may have been one factor that was operating here.”
O’Malley cancelled some paid speaking engagements in Europe in order to return to Baltimore on Tuesday. Shortly after arriving, he made several unannounced stops in the city, including touring the site of the East Baltimore Senior Center, which was ravaged by a fire Monday whose cause remains unknown. He also went with members of the Baltimore City Council to Old Town Mall and to a West Baltimore community meeting.
O”Malley spokeswoman Lis Smith said O’Malley wants to focus on raising awareness about volunteer opportunities in the city, “while participating in the healing process with the people of Baltimore.”
John Wagner has covered Maryland government and politics for The Post since 2004.
Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post.
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