O'Malley likely to announce 2016 run on May 30

Democrat Martin O’Malley will likely jump into the presidential race with an announcement about his future in Baltimore on May 30, an aide confirmed on Thursday morning.

The former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor, who has been positioning himself as an electable liberal alternative to front-runner Hillary Clinton, will hold a conference call with supporters on Thursday evening to discuss his plans. He would join Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a Democratic primary race that could also include former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee.


O’Malley has been active on the campaign trail since mid-2014, when he was still governor. He traveled around the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to support Democrats and raise his profile, and he has kept up a busy travel schedule in early 2015.

O’Malley was in New Hampshire on Wednesday, and in late April he returned from a trip to Europe to be in Baltimore after that city’s riots. He also hosted a gathering for prominent liberal activists in New York City on Monday night, and has recently traveled to California and Florida to meet with potential donors.

Trailing both Clinton and Sanders in early polling, O’Malley has hired what appears to be the beginnings of a campaign staff and has worked to draw clear distinctions between himself and the former secretary of state on matters of policy and vision, without specifically criticizing her by name.

The news of O’Malley’s possible launch date was first reported by The Washington Post.