Leading black candidates in Maryland’s U.S. Senate race received major endorsements yesterday — with top state Democrats backing former NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume and ex-New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani supporting Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.
“You’ve got a great candidate here,” Mr. Giuliani, a Republican presidential hopeful for 2008, told about 100 Steele supporters at the Potomac restaurant Flaps before attending a fundraiser for Mr. Steele at a Potomac home. “Michael Steele is a tremendous leader. He’ll get a lot of Republican votes, but I guarantee you he’ll get a lot of Democrat votes, too.”
Mr. Mfume’s big endorsements yesterday came from Rep. Albert R. Wynn and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, two black Democrats with substantial clout in the battlegrounds of Baltimore and Prince George’s County.
“We definitely see it as a boost,” said Mark Clack, campaign manager for Mr. Mfume, who trailed front-runner Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, a 10-term congressman from Baltimore, in a poll this week.
The high-profile support for Mr. Steele and Mr. Mfume advances what could become an unprecedented race between two black candidates for Senate if Mr. Mfume wins the Sept. 12 primary.
Mr. Steele, who in 2002 became the first black person elected to statewide office in Maryland, is running without serious opposition from another Republican.
His potential to peel off black votes — one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting blocs — poses a concern for Democratic Party leaders. In April, an internal Democratic Party poll called Mr. Steele a “unique threat.”
The poll found that Mr. Steele has “a clear ability to break through the Democratic stronghold among African-American voters in Maryland.”
Those concerns were heightened last week when hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and black radio executive Cathy Hughes, founder of Radio One, endorsed Mr. Steele.
Mr. Simmons, who is well known for his activism supporting liberal and Democrat causes, headlined a Steele fundraiser in Baltimore.
“I’m sure that was a surprise to most everybody,” said Ronald Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland.
“If [Mr. Simmons and Miss Hughes] campaign for him beyond endorsement, it’s going to be significant because these are two very powerful people,” Mr. Walters said.
Endorsements from such social liberals as Mr. Giuliani will also help Mr. Steele, a social conservative, improve his credentials with moderate voters in both parties.
Mr. Steele must attract a significant number of Democratic voters in Maryland, where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans two-to-one and black voters make up about 40 percent of the Democratic primary.
Mr. Steele, a lifelong Republican, is trying to distance himself from the Bush administration, which is unpopular with many Democrats and most black voters.
Mr. Giuliani is the second Republican with an independent streak and designs on the White House in 2008 to appear with Mr. Steele in the last three months.
In June, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who is known as a maverick and has crossed the Bush administration numerous times during his congressional career, headlined a fundraiser for Mr. Steele in Baltimore.
The Steele campaign would not disclose how much money they expected to raise at the Giuliani fundraiser last night, but Mr. Steele has about $3 million in campaign cash on hand, more than any other candidate in the Senate race.
Despite Mr. Steele distancing himself from the Bush administration, the president, Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove have raised money for him.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a well-known black activist who ran for president as a Democrat in 2004, yesterday criticized Mr. Steele for accepting Mr. Giuliani’s support. He said blacks were brutalized by New York police during Mr. Giuliani’s tenure as mayor, from 1994 to 2002.
“Mr. Steele, in all due respect, could not find a more polarizing and more reactionary person to bring into Maryland,” Mr. Sharpton said. “We hope this does not represent his own support of blindly out of control law enforcement.”
Steele campaign sources said Mr. Sharpton and Mr. Steele had a friendly conversation weeks ago at an event in the District celebrating the 25th anniversary of Miss Hughes’ radio empire.
Mr. Steele said in response to Mr. Sharpton’s criticism that he was “very honored to have the mayor come to help.”
He also said Mr. Sharpton is “a friend, and “like some of my friends, we don’t necessarily agree about everything.”
Mr. Steele said he also was asking Mr. Sharpton to “come and help me get to the bottom of the number of African-Americans who are being illegally arrested in Baltimore and detained.”
• S.A. Miller contributed to this report.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.