Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley says the Democratic Party “is always looking for new voices” and Hillary Clinton’s rumored entry into the presidential race this weekend won’t keep him from entering the race.
“I think our party and our country would be well-served by a robust debate about the questions and the answers that we have to provide in order to move our country forward,” O’Malley says, “in order to move our country forward and fix what’s still ailing our economy.”
O’Malley backed Clinton in 2008.
“I believed in 2008 that she would have been the best candidate and the president for those times,” O’Malley says. “I believe that, right now, times have changed in our country.”
O’Malley, who is 52, served as Baltimore’s mayor before his eight-year run as Maryland’s governor. He’s been a frequent Iowa visitor over the past two years and paid 14 staffers to work for the Iowa Democratic Party and Democratic candidates in Iowa in 2014. O’Malley suggests Democrats are looking for a presidential candidate who they can trust to address income inequality and economic stagnation in the country.
“Our party always has a sort of gravitational pull, if you will, towards the future and our party is always looking for new voices and new perspectives to help us solve our problems,” O’Malley says.
O’Malley made his comments during this morning’s taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program that airs this evening at 7:30.