The Spy continues our ongoing series of long-form exit interviews with some of the Mid-Shore’s most important leaders and stakeholders, with a look back with Steve Rideout, the recently departed mayor and former Virginia judge.
It’s pretty rare that members of the bench transition into locally elected officials as a second career. With a healthy government pension, judges tend to focus their retirement years on improving one’s golf game rather than being a mayor of a challenged community like Cambridge. But that is precisely what Steve Rideout eventually did for the last two years.
For those who know Steve Rideout, this comes as no surprise. Intellectually well-wired for complex institutional issues and a long-standing sympathy for the disadvantaged, he has made the well-being of Cambridge his top concern for the last 15 years. From winning a seat as a city council member to serving on nonprofit boards, he has been extremely generous with his lifelong skills to make the city a better place to live.
For the record, Mayor Rideout was very clear that he would only serve one term as mayor during his campaign, and he has kept that commitment. After two years, Steve did not seek re-election, and instead, he and his wife will be moving to a retirement community in Western Maryland to be closer to their adult children.
We caught up with him via Zoom for some reflection on those years of service.
This video is approximately 24 minutes in length.
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