Leadership race for DNC opens with Maryland ex-gov Martin O'Malley after former head drops out of contention over Kamala loss

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who now serves as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, has thrown his hat in the ring for chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Martin, who also served as Baltimore mayor in the early 2000s, is the first to announce his candidacy for the seat, and his entrance kicks off a race that is expected to have several candidates running, according to the New York Times. This comes after Democrats lost the Senate and the presidency in the 2024 election, and were unsuccessful at taking the House. 

The 447 committee members that are eligible to vote on current chair Jaime Harrison’s replacement are set to cast their votes in early 2025. O’Malley said that he was entering the race with endorsements from three DNC members and has been in conversations with others.

O’Malley has resigned from his Social Security Administration post effective November 29, and wrote on X, "We must connect our Party with the most important place in America — the kitchen table of every family’s home. Jobs, Opportunity, and Economic Security for all.  Getting things done. Hope. A 50 state strategy. Now."

Speaking with The Times, O’Malley said that Kamala Harris lost to Trump because "American people’s eyes were taken off the ball and by the politics of fear. And I believe that in order for us to rebuild and win elections, we have to be entirely focused on winning elections."

"We have to engage in the economic arguments as to why the choices that we are making are better for Americans all over the country."

When asked how the party could win back Latino voters who backed Trump in the election, O’Malley said, "When I ran for re-election as governor of Maryland, it was coming off a recession. There was a lot of anxiety. But we never hesitated to engage on the economic issues, talked about how the things we were doing were improving people’s conditions, families, their ability to send their kids to college. That’s what we need to do with every group."

Other potential candidates for the seat include head of the Wisconsin Democrat Party Ben Wikler, Minnesota Democratic Party chief Ken Martin, former New Orleans mayor and close Biden aide Mitch Landrieu, and Senator Laphonza Butler of California, per Reuters. O’Malley also ran for DNC chair after Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss to Trump. O’Malley lost the race to Tom Perez, who held the role between 2017 and 2021.