First of all, I understand that a Martin O’Malley post is not exactly the ticket to viral gold right now. I get that. And really, anyone looking for fame, fortune, or power couldn’t have found a much worse spot to be this election cycle than to hitch their wagon to the O’Malley campaign. I get that too.

But those have never been my concerns. Twelve years ago, Barack Obama changed my views about politics, policy, and what it means to be an American when he spoke to the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Though it might seem crazy to say, I had somehow made it through 17 years, joined the Army, and found myself just a few months out from starting my first tour in Iraq without putting a great deal of thought into the collective obligations we owe each other until that moment.

Watching the rise of someone like Obama for me was a constant study in waiting for the other shoe to drop; waiting for that moment when the politician you’ve put your faith in would lie to you, would let you down, would let the counterfeit in their true selves show.

I was 6 years old when Clinton won in ’92. I was in high school when Bush miscalculated and misled us into Iraq. This is the nature of the beast. This is what I felt we, as voters, had come to deserve.

So I was as shocked as anyone when Obama turned out the way he did as a candidate, and a president. And as I grew more comfortable in my own ability to get involved, I’ve grown more and more concerned about what comes next. More concerned about how we could possibly find someone, anyone, with the promise and potential to follow a president like Barack Obama.

I found that candidate in Martin O’Malley.

In O’Malley, I found a candidate who took as aggressive and courageous a stance as I’ve ever seen in standing up for those that need our help the most. From New Americans, to the children of Central America fleeing death and despair, to Syrian refugees, to the uninsured and unemployed; no one in need of us to act as our best selves was left wanting for a candidate with the guts to stand up for them. Martin O’Malley did, whether they paid attention or not.

What’s more, the guy isn’t stupid. I supported Martin O’Malley for his experience and his positions. But I stayed with him because of the way he ran this race. It doesn’t take a genius to see the way the primary developed, and to look at the centrist and spineless equivocation of Clinton or the feeble-minded and fury-riddled shtick of Sanders and see the writing on the wall.

The smart play would have been to vacillate toward the anger and extremes of the electorate early on, and to assassinate Hillary Clinton’s character. The courageous play would have been to stay true to yourself, take every question and knock every door possible, knowing full well the voters weren’t likely to reward that behavior this cycle.

That’s the route O’Malley took. In this cycle, that isn’t just honorable, it’s downright unthinkable.

I met Martin O’Malley six times in Iowa this primary season, and worked with his field staff for many months in the painstaking, thankless grind of getting voters on the phone and talking about the candidate. I’ve been hung up on, called names, and worst of all, told the person was voting for Trump.

Perhaps one of the truest tests of a candidate is what their staff says about them when they’re down in the polls and going nowhere. Through it all, staffers like Drew Cooper and Claire McGuire showed a loyalty that can only come from true belief. Representatives like Charlie McConkey had the guts to stand with a candidate that was standing up for all of us, whether or not that candidate was going to win.

This wasn’t even close to my first race, but it was by far my favorite. And I’ll be there for whatever Governor O’Malley decides to do in the future, though I strongly suspect it will involve a tough fight for people who need his vision. I hope this time we get to see it through the rest of the way.

https://twitter.com/MD_Connolly