Kelly has followed Martin O’Malley’s career for years. Though she has never met the Governor, her mother saw his band, O’Malley’s March, play at a pub in Ireland once. “She thought it was great fun,” Kelly said.

This past weekend, Kelly was appointed chieftain of the O’Malley clan at their 62nd consecutive summer gathering in Limerick, Ireland. Nearly 200 and 250 friends and members of the O’Malley clan attended to participate in genealogy workshops, where they could research their family tree (Kelly herself is an O’Malley on her mother’s side – her grandfather was an O’Malley)....

Kelly plans to invite Governor O’Malley to next year’s clan gathering, which will take place in her own hometown of Galway, near to Galway County, where the former mayor’s own family is from. She has a letter all ready to go, and she’ll send it as soon as she finds his mailing address. “Obviously he’s a busy man,” she said, but she hopes he might find time to attend – perhaps with his guitar in tow. “We love if he might play a tune,” she said.

Though the governor may have lost his bid for president, Kelly said he could be eligible to become a future chieftain of the O’Malley clan.