Martin O'Malley

He is a descendant of a veteran of the War of 1812, and is an active member of the General Society of the War of 1812.

He was later inducted as an honorary colonel in the Fort McHenry Guard of reenactor soldiers at the War of 1812 historical site and park/shrine.

O'Malley attended the Our Lady of Lourdes School in Bethesda and Gonzaga College High School.

Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who currently serves as commissioner of the Social Security Administration since December 2023.

Martin Joseph O'Malley was born on January 18, 1963, in Washington, D.C., the son of Barbara (née Suelzer) and Thomas Martin O'Malley.

Martin's father served as a bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Force in the Pacific theater during the Second World War, and recalled witnessing the mushroom cloud rise over Hiroshima while on a routine mission.

Thomas later became a Montgomery County–based criminal defense lawyer, and an assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.

O'Malley's father was of Irish descent; his ancestors come from An Mám in County Galway.

His mother's ancestry include Irish, German, Dutch and Scottish.

In December 1982, while still in college, O'Malley joined the Gary Hart presidential campaign for the 1984 election.

In late 1983, he volunteered to go to Iowa where he phone-banked, organized volunteers, played guitar and sang at small fundraisers and other events.

He graduated from the Catholic University of America in 1985.

In 1986, while in law school, O'Malley was named by then-Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski as state field director for her successful primary and general election campaigns for the U.S. Senate.

He served as a legislative fellow in Mikulski's Senate office in 1987 and 1988.

Later that year, he enrolled in the University of Maryland School of Law, on the urban campus of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, earning his J.D. in 1988, and was admitted to the Maryland bar that same year.

Later that year, he was hired as an assistant State's Attorney for the City of Baltimore, holding that position until 1990.

In 1990, O'Malley ran for the Maryland State Senate in the 43rd State Senate District in northeast Baltimore.

He challenged one-term incumbent John A. Pica in the Democratic Party primary, and lost by just 44 votes.

He was considered an underdog when he first filed to run, but "came out of nowhere" to lead Pica on election night.

Eventually he lost when the absentee ballots were later counted.

In 1991, O'Malley was elected to the Baltimore City Council representing the 3rd Councilman District (when each of six districts had three members) and served from 1991 to 1999.

As councilman, he served as chairman of the Legislative Investigations Committee and chairman of the Taxation and Finance Committee.

O'Malley was elected mayor of Baltimore in 1999 after a surprise win in the Democratic primary.

As mayor, O'Malley prioritized reducing crime within the city.

He was reelected in 2004.

O'Malley won the 2006 gubernatorial election, defeating incumbent Republican governor Bob Ehrlich.

During his first term, O'Malley implemented Maryland StateStat and became the first governor to sign the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 61st governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015 and the 48th mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007.

O'Malley won reelection in 2010.

In 2011, he signed a law that would make illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children eligible for in-state college tuition.

O'Malley served as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association from 2011 to 2013.

In 2012, he signed a law to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland.

Both laws were approved in referendums in the 2012 general election.

After leaving office in 2015, O'Malley was appointed to The Johns Hopkins University's Carey Business School as a visiting professor focusing on government, business and urban issues.

Long rumored to have presidential ambitions, O'Malley publicly announced his candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination on May 30, 2015.

One of six major candidates, O'Malley struggled to gain support, and he suspended his campaign on February 1, 2016, after finishing third in the Iowa caucuses.

He endorsed Hillary Clinton four months later.

Since his presidential campaign, he has lectured at Georgetown University and Boston College Law School, and written two books about the use of technology in government.

In July 2023, President Joe Biden announced he would nominate O'Malley to lead the Social Security Administration, which is headquartered in the suburbs west of Baltimore.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate with a 50-11 vote on December 18, 2023.