In this installment of College Democrats of North Dakota’s Perspectives Blog Series, UND senior Collin Hanson shares why he supports Martin O’Malley for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hanson’s post is the second of three by students each supporting a different Democratic candidate.

Governor Martin O’Malley is a legitimate candidate for the President of the United States. Will he be the next Democratic nominee for President? I sure hope so. I also figure that as one of the only supporters of Martin O’Malley, I should do my part to let my friends, neighbors, and other College Democrats know why I support him and why they should support him too.

Within the Democratic Party, one that supposedly prides itself of being inclusive and open to the competition of ideas, there are folks who are not ready to include presidential candidates who are not already well known. This is very obvious by those who write off Governor Martin O’Malley before they look at his record or his issues. Some of those people include many liberal strategists. An interesting view of his candidacy from Nate Silver is that “he isn’t bringing much to the table from a policy standpoint” and that “O’Malley doesn’t really have the track record to tout his lefty credentials”. I have to disagree with Nate Silver. He is, quite frankly, lying through his teeth to say that Martin O’Malley doesn’t have a track record to “tout his lefty credentials”. For most of the domestic policy areas commonly discussed by democratic candidates, Sanders and Clinton can only claim to have voted and voiced support for certain policy goals. Martin O’Malley can usually point to a record of accomplishing those progressive policies in Maryland:

• Providing In-State Tuition for Undocumented Immigrants
• Marriage Equality
• $10.10 Minimum Wage
• Expanded Early Vote & Same Day Voter Registration
• Repealed Maryland’s Death Penalty
• Froze College Tuition for 4 Years
• Passed Legislation to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
• And Many More

Furthermore, when looking into this allegation on the lack of a track record, Silver references fellow FiveThirtyEight writer Harry Enten’s piece that rates the three Democratic candidates using three metrics: fundraising, public statements, and congressional voting record. First off, of course well established US Senators who have national recognition are ahead in fundraising. I need a better explanation as to how this is a critical metric regarding one’s liberalness. On the other hand, I agree that public statements seem like a decent indicator when used in creating an index. Lastly, O’Malley has no congressional voting record, so he scored a zero on that metric. So to think that those three indicators can accurately depict the qualifications or liberalness of a presidential candidate is buffoonish.

On a separate note, we need to acknowledge the significance of Governor O’Malley’s implementation of data driven policy making. He helped pioneer “Citistat” and “Statestat”, whose purpose is to collect and analyze data from government agencies. It sounds boring to the average voter (and it’s not something you make a campaign slogan out of), but I want someone who understands the importance of data running the executive branch of our country.

With that, I do concede that Sanders and Clinton have a strong upper hand in foreign policy. However, O’Malley has the strongest record of progressive achievement. O’Malley is 53, which means Clinton and Sanders have 14 and 21 years on him respectively. It makes sense that they have a longer political record; in my opinion, O’Malley has the strongest record. For O’Malley, it’s about actions, not words.

Collin Hanson
Class of 2016
University of North Dakota

College Democrats of North Dakota’s Perspective Blog Series seeks to highlight the diversity of thought in today’s students and provide medium for sharing with their peers. CDND’s projects are key to the future of Democrats in North Dakota; our programs expand the voter base on-campus, recruit today’s activists and organizers, and build the bench of tomorrow’s candidates. You can help CDND’s mission by contributing securely online.

Photo by Disney-ABC Television Group; used under a CC BY-ND 2.0 License.