Former Maryland Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Martin O’Malley visited a group of caucus goers at the Henry County Democrat’s Harvest Festival on Saturday as he fights to get out of the shadow of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
O’Malley stressed his progressive credentials and years of experience both as the Governor of Maryland and the Mayor of the City of Baltimore during the speech, talking about the minimum wage, education, and environmental issues.
“We need to make college more affordable for more people instead of more expensive,” said O’Malley, “We need to raise the minimum wage so that it’s always above the poverty line, we need overtime pay for overtime work, and we need to make it easier for people to join labor unions and bargain collectively.”
O’Malley also detailed his unique idea to switch the country over to a 100% clean electric grid, unreliant on fossil fuels.
“I am the first candidate in our party with a plan to move our country to a 100% clean electric energy grid by 2050,and create 5 million jobs along the way,” O’Malley said.
O’Malley called Republican frontrunner Donald Trump a “Carnival Barker” and criticized the Democratic establishment for limiting the number of debates before the Iowa Caucus.
O’Malley is, among declared candidates, tied for third in the polls with former Virginia Senator Jim Webb behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at 0.8% nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics Average. O’Malley does significantly better in Iowa, where his support polls third at just under 4%. Local State Senator Rich Taylor has endorsed O’Malley’s candidacy.
