O'Malley Endorses Brown in District 12 Race

This weekend Gov. Martin O’Malley got involved in the crowded Baltimore City Council District 12 race.

O’Malley, former mayor and council member, endorsed 21-year-old De’Von Brown. Brown, who was featured in the documentary The Boys of Baraka, is one of several candidates running to unseat Councilman Carl Stokes.

Stokes was appointed to the seat after Bernard C. “Jack” Young was appointed council president, which occurred after Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ascended to the mayor’s office following the resignation of former Mayor Sheila Dixon.

The endorsement is yet another chapter in a long political rivalry between O’Malley and Stokes. O’Malley defeated Stokes in the race for mayor in 1999. In 2003, O’Malley endorsed Dixon in the race for council president instead of Stokes.

During the 2010 campaign for governor, Stokes invited former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, to tour the The Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy, a public charter middle school for boys Stokes helped found, the day Ehrlich introduced his running mate Mary Kane.