Martin O’Malley is joined by his wife Katie O’Malley as he announces his intention to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. (Photo: Jim Bourg/Reuters)
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced his candidacy for the presidency on Saturday at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, slamming heavyweight Hillary Clinton.
“I declare that I am a candidate for president of the United States and I am running for you,” he said. “The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families.”
During the announcement, which was introduced by Bruce Springsteen, an online YouTube video was released of the candidate introducing himself to voters.
O’Malley, who will try to run as the true progressive Democrat in the race, somewhere to the right of self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, and the left of Clinton, made his controversial time as Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor the cornerstone of his pitch.
In fact, there wasn’t a single bloc of voters O’Malley didn’t slice into an individual group and name outright, including women, men, black Americans, white Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and lesbian, gay and transgender Americans. He said “the urgent calling for us today” was to “rebuild the American dream in our time” for what he called “a nation of immigrants”.
O’Malley, thus far, is the third candidate to jump into the race for the Democratic nomination, behind Hillary and Sanders. However, it is widely believed that he is the viable, despite some serious questions regarding the progressive record he has so proudly touted.
Though he is to the left of frontrunner Clinton on issues such as same-sex marriage, immigration reform and trade, he couldn’t even get his lieutenant governor elected after two terms in a deeply blue state. Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, defeated O’Malley’s chosen one in an upset victory during the 2014 elections, and turnout was not the reason.
Further, perhaps a reflection of just how far left the Democratic Party has moved in the last decade, or at least openly, Sanders is far out-polling O’Malley. According to the latest PPD average of polls, Sanders has shot to up to nearly 10 percent support, while O’Malley hasn’t even registered a statistical point. Sanders has raised more than $4 million since announcing his campaign in late April and aimed to build support among far-to-the-left liberals in the party who are disillusioned with Clinton.
Still, with his slogan “New Leadership,” O’Malley clearly and rightfully believes that there is a number of Democratic primary voters who do not want a coronation. Polls show Democrats don’t want a crown simply placed on a member of the almost-aristocratic class, and O’Malley is hoping they will see him as a more electable candidate than Sanders.
He focused on Wall Street chief executives and their role in the 2008 financial crisis, an issue Clinton has received warranted criticism on, considering her established ties to Wall Street and big business.
“Tell me how it is that in this country you can get pulled over if you have a broken tail light, but if you wreck the country you are absolutely untouchable?”
While he lags in the polls, O’Malley has put together a well-respected political operation that includes top Iowa operatives and his own superPAC. O’Malley has been laying the ground for a potential presidential bid for years, sending nearly a dozen staffers to Iowa alone on his behalf in 2014 and speaking at scores of party fundraisers across the country.
The Democratic nomination field, while weaker than it has been in recent political memory, is set to get another runner. Former Republican-turned-independent-turned Democrat Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island will announce his bid on June 3.
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