DNC Chairman candidate: Dems can move forward by acknowledging ‘the fears of so many American families’

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who launched a bid to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said he thinks Democrats can move past their brutal election losses by acknowledging the “fears of so many American families.”

O’Malley joined NewsNation’s Blake Burman for “The Hill” on Wednesday to discuss his vision for the party after it suffered defeat in the election two weeks ago.

“I believe that the way our party moves forward is to reconnect ourselves to, not only the hopes … and dreams, but to acknowledge the fears of so many American families,” he said.

O’Malley continued, noting that “the most important place” in the country is a family’s kitchen table.

“When we talked about jobs, when we talk about opportunity, people hear us. They follow us,” he said. “We need to remember that when we’re not talking about jobs and opportunity, we’re not fighting on our firmest ground, including issues like dignity in retirement, Social Security, prescription drugs.”

O’Malley served as Maryland’s governor from 2007 to 2015 and launched his bid to be the DNC chair on Monday. He most recently has served as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

The former Baltimore mayor also ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2016 after he led the Democratic Governors Association.

As the party grapples with how it should move forward after the election and where its message got so lost with voters, O’Malley argued the focus should be on the Democrats who did win, particularly those in border states and in places where Democrats lost to Republicans this cycle.

“I don’t think we have to give up being a beacon of hope. I don’t think we have to intern children in internment camps behind barbed wire, but we do have to be a party of law and order and security,” he said.

“We have to find a way to do both,” O’Malley said.

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