Former Maryland governor and 2016 presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is endorsing South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship, just days ahead of the candidate forum in Baltimore, where he served as mayor.

“I’ve known Pete Buttigieg for many years, he has been a terrific mayor. He’s one of those new, up-and-coming leaders in our country and in our party that’s really bringing forward a new and better way of governing,” O’Malley — who himself briefly considered a run for the chairmanship before bowing out in November — told POLITICO. “He speaks with a clarity that our party really, really needs right now. He has been successful in a so-called red state, he brings to the public service of being mayor the background of having served in our armed forces.”

“He is of a new generation of leadership. Our party sometimes talks about bringing forward a new generation of leadership, well, hey man, there’s never been a better time,” added O’Malley, referring to the 35-year-old veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

The endorsement represents Buttigieg’s most prominent nod so far as he faces off against a field of favored candidates that includes Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez — and it’s a clear snub of Perez, a Marylander whom O’Malley appointed to be the state's secretary of labor in 2007.