opinion

Column: Our generation needs Martin O'Malley in the White House

I was born in Sac City, Iowa and this weekend, I am proud to be back in the Hawkeye state to endorse my friend and mentor, Martin O’Malley for President.

In 2001, when he was the Mayor of Baltimore, O’Malley visited my government class when I was just a 20-year-old college student at the University of Maryland. I was broke and between a vise of increasing college tuition and few ideas of what I wanted to do upon graduation. O’Malley was 38 years old, and at that point in my life, the youngest high-profile leader I had met.

He spoke to my class about our civic duty to help others, unify communities and offer solutions for the common good. I was hooked. I watched him lead not just with words but by deeds, and I committed myself to following his example of service to others. Inspired by O'Malley, I would go on to attend his alma mater, the University of Maryland School of Law, start my career as a prosecutor, and later serve on my local city council.

Now, at 34, I have the honor and responsibility of being a voice for 80 million millennials as a Representative in the United States Congress.

The greatest challenges facing our generation are the increasing barriers to opportunity: harder and costlier paths to higher education, and fewer good paying jobs once you graduate. Our generation needs a leader like O’Malley in the White House. I know he is the leader our generation needs, because I have personally needed him before. And he did not let me down.

In 2003, I was a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park and Republican Bob Ehrlich had just been sworn in as Governor. Governor Ehrlich immediately took an ax to public education, cutting funding to state universities, and to add insult to injury, raising tuition for students.

Under those conditions, I could barely finish college and go on to law school. I still remember the countless notices from the bursar's office: "This is your last warning, if you do not pay your tuition, you will be dropped from classes."

I and thousands of college students facing similar pressure needed someone who would relieve the burden. Fortunately, Mayor O’Malley became Gov. O’Malley and he kept his word to restore funding of the state's university system and reduce the cost of tuition for students.

Gov. O’Malley expanded education funding even during the height of the recession, and Maryland public schools were ranked No. 1 in the nation five years in a row. I saw first-hand how his accomplishments transformed the state and helped my generation.

Once again, millennials need O'Malley. Forty-one million young Americans are mired in $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, leaving them stuck in financial quicksand and preventing or delaying them from taking the job they want, buying a house and starting a family. Millions more in college and on their way to college face steep tuition costs and dim job prospects upon graduation.

To help our generation, O'Malley has put forward a national goal of debt-free college to address the rising cost of education and assist the millions held back by debt. His bold and visionary plan would allow students to refinance student loans, link minimum payments to incomes, freeze public tuition rates, restore state higher education funding, increase Pell Grants, and expand and modernize the need-based federal work-study program.

O'Malley stood up for me when I needed him most, and today I am standing up for him.

In 2012, I ran for Congress to bring new energy and ideas to Washington, D.C and fight for millennial issues. But my efforts alone cannot pave the pathways to opportunity millennials need.

Our generation needs Martin O'Malley in the White House. I endorse Gov. O'Malley to be our next President.

Eric Swalwell is an Iowa native who was born in Sac City, and is now a Democratic Congressman representing California’s 15th District.