Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said that he’s “seriously” weighing a run for president in 2016.
“I’m seriously considering it,” O’Malley told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Monday.
{mosads}Asked why he thinks he should be president, O’Malley said the United States can do “better” and he believes he might have something to offer.
“So as I look at the challenges we face as a country and I look at my own service, I ask the question as to whether or not our country can do better and whether I can help us do better,” he said.
O’Malley said a potential presidential candidate has to “be very clear [about] what it is that you have to offer, what mix of experience, insights, talents, desires and hopes do you have an ability to bring forward on behalf of the people that you would serve that would make our country a better place.”
The governor reiterated that his decision isn’t “at this point” dependent on whether Hillary Clinton launches her own campaign.
The former secretary of State has not said if she will run in 2016, but polls show her as the clear Democratic frontrunner.
In February, O’Malley told The Washington Post in an interview that he can’t wait for Clinton to make a decision before considering his own political future. At that point, he said he had already begun exploring a bid of his own by holding meetings with domestic and foreign policy experts.
O’Malley told The Los Angeles Times the federal government can be transformed from a “traditional bureaucracy” into a “results-oriented meritocracy” if officials are more innovative.
“All of this can be changed,” he said. “We don’t have to accept underperforming bureaucracies, agencies or departments.”