Students look to start Terps for O’Malley club to support former governor’s presidential bid

Former Gov. Martin O’Malley gives a speech at a rally supporting former gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown on Oct. 25, 2014. 

After sophomore Griffin Riddler watched Martin O’Malley in the Oct. 13 Democratic presidential debate, he decided Maryland’s former governor “needs to be talked about more as a viable candidate.”

“There’s a Terps for Bernie, there’s a Terps for Hillary, there’s a Terps for Marco Rubio, but there’s no Terps for O’Malley,” Riddler said. “It’s a little ridiculous that in the state where he was once governor there’s not really much recognition of the things he did.”

Riddler, an economics and government and politics major from Ellicott City, is now working to form a group to educate students about O’Malley. Terps for O’Malley plans to canvas for the former governor, hold small events on the campus and participate in regional rallies, Riddler said. He also hopes to bring O’Malley to the campus.

READ MORE: O’Malley makes a not-so-memorable impression in Democratic debate

Riddler said he appreciates O’Malley’s executive experience and his record on immigration, gun reform, education and crime. O’Malley is more relatable than Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the two major candidates for the Democratic nomination, he said.

Once the group is up and running, Riddler hopes to hold weekly meetings along with strategy meetings with an executive board. Next semester, the group will become more active in voter registration efforts, Riddler said.

“With a candidate like Martin O’Malley, who’s been kind of underappreciated by the press and by the general electorate, it’s going to take the time to build interest, but I think we’re on our way there,” he said.

Jake Polce, president of UMD College Democrats, said O’Malley’s biggest strength is his 15 years of executive experience. 

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During his tenure as governor of Maryland, O’Malley raised the minimum wage, restored the right to vote to more 52,000 former felons and signed the state’s DREAM Act, which grants in-state tuition to undocumented college students, said Polce, who has been helping Riddler establish Terps for O’Malley.

 The three Democratic nominees “all talk about pretty much the same progressive values, but Martin O’Malley’s already done it. He’s done it as the governor of Maryland,” Polce said. “That is a very strong platform to run on.”

O’Malley’s progressive ideology and debt-free college plan could help him appeal to college students, Polce said. While governor, O’Malley froze tuition at state institutions for four years.

But Clinton and Sanders have been on the national stage much longer than O’Malley, which poses a challenge, Polce said.

O’Malley’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination “are close to zero,” said Stella Rouse, a government and politics professor and the director of this university’s Center for American Politics and Citizenship.

READ MORE: UMD students garner support for Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid

Maryland residents were disillusioned with O’Malley toward the end of his term as governor, she said, and he has very little name recognition on a national level. The zero-tolerance policing strategy he implemented while serving as Baltimore’s mayor has also been a point of controversy.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed O’Malley attracting about 4 percent of likely Democratic caucus voters in Iowa. A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll similarly found that 4 percent of potential primary voters in Maryland support O’Malley. 

“I think he knew that, pretty much going in, that his chances were very low,” Rouse said. “My theory is that he’s setting himself up for two things — probably a job in the next Democratic administration, especially if it’s Hillary Clinton, since they’re friends, and getting his name out there for a potential run, you know in either 2020 or 2024.”

Despite his low polling numbers, Polce said O’Malley has been making progress in Iowa, and the first primary elections are still months away. Terps for O’Malley hopes to participate in phone banks in early primary states as the elections approach, Polce said.

“Martin O’Malley got in this race, and he knew it was kind of a long shot and he’s said repeatedly, you know, he likes a tough fight, and that’s what he’s getting,” Polce said. “While it’s definitely a tougher bid for the nomination than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, I think it’s definitely premature to rule him out.”