Martin O'Malley: Wanting to Make a Difference

Wanting to Make a Difference: Learning from the Inside

In December of 1982, O’Malley, still in college at Catholic University, signed on with the Gary Hart for President campaign. He rose through the ranks, and in late 1983, Martin volunteered to go to Iowa, where Hart was a virtual unknown. He phone-banked, organized volunteers, and even played guitar and sang at small fund-raisers and other events. Hart was the surprising runner-up in the caucus, and Martin headed to other states such as Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. It was an exhilarating time for O’Malley and he was forever changed by the opportunity to travel across the country, see new things and to meet new people and hear their stories. After returning to Maryland, Martin finished college and enrolled at the University Of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore.

“I remember just having this feeling, a sense of mission, that I was going to get involved in public life. Hart turned me on to the fact that one person can make a difference.”

In 1986, Barbara Mikulski named Martin as her state field director for her successful primary and general campaigns. The campaign was historic in that Mikulski became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the Old Line State and one of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate. Later he served as a legislative fellow in Senator Mikulski’s office, where he focused on obtaining federal funding for projects in the State of Maryland.

While working on the campaign he crossed paths with a striking young woman named Catherine Curran. Katie, as she was known to friends and family, was working for the campaign of her father, Joseph Curran, who was a candidate for Maryland’s Attorney General. At the time (as Katie likes to remind Martin), he didn’t seem to make much of an impression on her as she focused on helping her father win his race but two years later, after a chance encounter, Martin made the best decision of his life and asked Katie out on a date. A year and half later, they were married, and they honeymooned on the Eastern Shore.

After finishing law school, Martin went to work as a prosecutor for the State’s Attorney of Baltimore City. As an Assistant State’s Attorney, Martin got an up-close view of the crime problems in Baltimore City, and how eager its citizens were for a change in how government was addressing a worsening crime problem. The seemingly never-ending cycle of drugs, guns, and murders had gripped the City. O’Malley also saw the incredible backlog of cases that faced the State’s Attorney office and knew something had to be done.

More Work to Do

Martin then decided to run for public office, realizing it was an even more direct way to make a difference in people’s lives. In 1990, Martin ran for the Maryland State Senate and was winning by 5 votes on the morning after Election Day, but absentee ballots gave his opponent the election by a scant 44 votes.

A year later he ran for a vacant City Council seat in Baltimore’s 3rd District. This time he didn’t just win – he led the entire ticket. In his two terms on the council, Martin concentrated on housing and public safety issues, was a strong advocate for reducing property taxes, encouraged businesses to return to Baltimore, and protected the interests of the families of the 3rd District. He chaired the Legislative Investigations Committee and the Taxation & Finance Committee, and he became known for his outspokenness and the fierceness of his devotion to his constituents and the City. As a member of the City Council, Martin worked with the people of Baltimore on a daily basis and once again, he heard their calls for a new approach to combating violent crime in the City.

In 1999, Martin announced he would run for Mayor. After a campaign marked by frank and honest dialogue about the City’s fears and hopes and a call to action that “there is more that unites us than divides us,” Martin won a competitive, three-way Democratic primary with over 50% of the vote and was then elected Mayor of Baltimore in 1999 at the age of 36, with 91% of the vote in the general election.

“I feared not trying more than I feared losing.”

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