Former Democratic presidential contender Martin O’Malley is sitting out the 2020 White House race.
O’Malley, governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, said Thursday he would not seek his party’s nomination for the right to challenge President Trump. O’Malley sought the 2016 Democratic nomination, but dropped out of the race after his Iowa Caucuses support came in at less than 1 percent.
Instead for 2020, O’Malley is backing outgoing Rep. Beto O’Rourke. The El Paso Democrat is considering a White House bid after waging a closer-than-expected, but still losing 2018 race against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
“People are looking for a new leader who can bring us together. They are looking for a unifier and a healer. They are looking for a leader of principle, and they are now looking for a fearless vision,” O’Malley wrote in an op-ed published in the Des Moines Register.
[Read more: 45 Democrats jostling to challenge Trump in 2020]
O’Rourke was able to rev up voters in Texas, usually a reliably red state, by being “raw, authentic, and real,” O’Malley said.
“O’Rourke has the wisdom to listen, the courage to lead, and a rock-solid faith in the powerful goodness of our nation,” O’Malley wrote. “Because he is of a new generation, O’Rourke understands that a new way of governing — with openness, transparency, and performance — is called for to tackle our problems in the Information Age. And because he is from a border state, O’Rourke understands the enduring symbol of our country is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty.”
Shortly after losing the election, O’Rourke met with former President Barack Obama as the potential 2020 candidate considers his political future.
“What I liked most about his race was that it didn’t feel constantly poll-tested,” Obama said of O’Rourke in an interview with “The Axe Files.”
“It felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed. And that, you’d like to think, is normally how things work. Sadly it’s not,” he added.
