Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley could disrupt Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, a report says.
Clinton announced her candidacy less than two weeks ago, while O'Malley is considering a run of his own. But O'Malley — who served as Maryland's governor from 2007 to 2015 — is already proving he can throw a wrench into his fellow Democrat's White House hopes.
Chris Cillizza writes in the
Washington Post that despite his low odds of winning the Democratic nomination for president next year, O'Malley "can make things very uncomfortable for Hillary Clinton. Of late, he seems very committed to doing just that."
Regarding the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement that President Barack Obama is currently negotiating, O'Malley called out Clinton's avoidance of the subject in an email to supporters.
"To me, opposing bad trade deals like TPP is just common sense," O'Malley wrote, according to the Post. "American workers whose jobs could be on the line right now are owed more than lip service. They deserve to know where leaders stand."
Cillizza surmised that O'Malley was referring to Clinton when he used the word "leaders."
Clinton may have good reason for holding back on giving her opinion regarding the TPP, however. President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, and labor unions are still upset about the U.S. jobs lost because of it.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama criticized Hillary Clinton for her support of NAFTA.
Cillizza argues that although O'Malley is more liberal than Clinton, that would not get him very far. Instead, he will likely continue to call out Clinton on a variety of issues.
"Most polling suggests that the bulk of liberals like her and will vote for her," Cillizza writes. "Instead, an emboldened O'Malley could remind voters of the calculating political side of Clinton that many of them do not like. It's O'Malley's boldness that's the real threat to Clinton, not his liberal positions."
Clinton is leading every poll of Democrats for president, and has been for months.
Members of the GOP have taken aim at Clinton, calling out everything from her use of a
private email address and server during her time as secretary of state to an upcoming book that
alleges corruption within the Clintons' foundation.
Clinton responded Monday by asking why Republicans keep
talking about her.
"I think it's worth noting that Republicans seem to be talking only about me," Clinton said. "I don't know what they'd talk about if I weren't in the race."
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