Martin O’Malley is on track to announce his presidential campaign on 30 May.
Multiple sources have confirmed to the Guardian that the former Maryland governor, who has long been contemplating a bid for the White House, will make a major announcement in his adopted hometown of Baltimore. The Democrat will hold a conference call on Thursday night, to brief supporters on this development.
The news, first reported by the Washington Post, potentially positions O’Malley as the second Democrat to challenge Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination, joining the independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
O’Malley has long mounted the most vigorous effort of any Democrat considering a run against Clinton. He has visited Iowa and New Hampshire repeatedly and paid for 11 staffers to work for Democratic candidates in Iowa alone during the 2014 midterms.
He also has been more blunt in criticizing Clinton on issues like trade and gay marriage than anyone else in the party and has taken indirect but barbed shots at her for leading from behind on these issues.
O’Malley still faces significant obstacles if he does move forward with his long-shot campaign. As a former mayor of Baltimore, he has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of the disturbances which plagued the city in April, over alleged police misconduct in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American man.
O’Malley’s stump speech has long rested on his tenure as mayor and successful efforts while combating crime in the city. Nationally televised images of stores being burned and looted did little to make the stump speech more convincing to Iowa Democrats.
In addition, O’Malley has consistently polled somewhere around the margin of error in national polls. He faces an uphill fight against Clinton who is viewed favorably by 80% of Democratic voters.
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