Former Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD) announced today that he will run for President. The former governor of Maryland is the third Democrat after Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to announce a presidential run.
O’Malley plans on running to the left of Clinton in order to take her on. He has made wage equality and Wall Street accountability two of central issues. However, he will have to compete with Sen. Sanders (D-VT) for the liberal, anti-Clinton vote. Sen. Sanders has spiked in the polls recently where he now places second against Clinton. The latest poll from Quinnipiac University has O’Malley tied at one percent nationally.
One of O’Malley’s main struggles has been his low national name awareness. O’Malley has had frequent mentions by and interactions with the Washington press corps due to his time as Governor of Maryland, where many journalists live.
His identity has been on the rise over the past few weeks, though, due to the riots and protests in Baltimore. Before serving as Maryland governor, he was the mayor of Baltimore. O’Malley also made his announcement today in the city. However’s O’Malley’s tough on crime attitude years ago has been blamed for some of the problems between African-Americans and the police community today.
During his launch speech today, O’Malley took a not-so-subtle shot against Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush that worked as a double attack of saying it is time for a new generation of American leaders and that Clinton and Bush are too close with Wall Street banks. He said, “Recently, the CEO of Goldman Saches let his employees know that he’d be just fine with either Bush or Clinton. I bet he would.” He paused and then continued, “Well, I’ve got news for the bullies of Wall Street: The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families. It is a sacred trust to be earned from the people of the United States, and exercised on behalf of the people of the United States.”