Martin O’Malley, the former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor who ushered in an era of tech-savvy management and a new brand of progressive politics during more than two decades in public office announced his long-expected campaign for president on Saturday.
With Baltimore’s skyline as his backdrop, the 52-year-old Democrat framed the election next year in dire economic terms, arguing that income inequality is making it harder for Americans to save for retirement and send children to college, that corporate interests are winning out over small businesses.
Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, announcing his decision to run for the democratic nomination for the presidency, during his announcement at Federal Hill.
Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, announcing his decision to run for the democratic nomination for the presidency, during his announcement at Federal Hill.
“We are allowing our land of opportunity to become a land of inequality,” O’Malley told several hundred people gathered at Federal Hill Park to hear his announcement. “Main Street struggles, while Wall Street soars.”
Despite a long career in state and local office — and a deep inventory of liberal accomplishments in Annapolis — O’Malley starts as a decided long shot, forced to campaign in the shadow of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a onetime ally.
Early polls show Clinton with commanding leads in Iowa, New Hampshire and everywhere else, including O’Malley’s home state of Maryland. He has less support than Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont another declared candidate for the Democratic nomination, and Vice President Joe Biden, who has not said whether he will run.
O’Malley used his speech to repeat themes he has long sounded in early primary states: That his executive experience sets him apart from both Clinton and Sanders, and that he represents a new generation of leadership. He did not mention Clinton by name, but repeated a veiled jab he has used against her before.
“The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families,” he said, in reference to the Clinton and Bush families.
O’Malley, who got his start in politics on Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential campaign, left Maryland on Saturday for a two-day swing through Iowa and New Hampshire. He phoned Clinton ahead of his announcement to personally inform her of his plans to run against her.
Early in his speech, O’Malley touched on the riots in Baltimore in April — sparked by the death of Freddie Gray, who sustained his fatal injuries while in police custody. He said the experience was about more than policing and race. It was, he said, “about everything it is supposed to mean to be an American.”
“For all of us who have given so much of our energies to making our city a safer, fairer, and more prosperous place, that was a heartbreaking night for all of us,” O’Malley said. “For us, Baltimore is our country and our country is Baltimore.”
The former governor is the third candidate to enter the race for the Democratic nomination. On the Republican side, there are already eight candidates in and least a half dozen more who likely to run. One of those Republicans, retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson, lived for years in Maryland.
During his tenure as governor, O’Malley signed laws that recognized gay marriage, raised the minimum wage, tightened gun restrictions and repealed the death penalty. He took several steps to help immigrants who entered the country illegally. His administration guided the state through the Great Recession, which hit Maryland with less force than the rest of the nation.
There were also setbacks, such as the loss of his lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown, in last year’s gubernatorial election.
Speculation about his national ambitions began more than a decade ago, and increased in recent years as he traveled to early primary states to build relationships with out-of-state Democrats and donors.
Maryland has never produced a president, and the state has only rarely offered serious candidates.
Alan Keyes, who lives in Montgomery County, ran for the GOP nomination in 1996, 2000 and 2008. The last Maryland governor to seek the presidency was Albert C. Ritchie, who lost the Democratic nomination to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
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