DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison is not expected to run for reelection. O’Malley’s resignation is effective Nov. 29.

O’Malley is among the first to enter the fray to be one of the top leaders of the Democratic Party, which has been in a process of soul-searching since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. O’Malley is a veteran within the party, having been the mayor of Baltimore for eight years and the governor of Maryland for another eight. During his second term as governor, he chaired the Democratic Governors Association.

He then unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016 before reentering government as Biden’s choice to lead the SSA in late 2023.

“We face enormous challenges and a lot of soul-searching,” O’Malley told the New York Times. “We need to focus on fixing the problem and not the blame.”

He believes there should be an “after-action report” on the 2024 elections in which Democrats lost the Senate and White House while failing to reclaim the House majority from the GOP.

“One of the jobs for the next chair of the DNC is to make sure … that it’s done thoroughly, that it’s based on truth, well researched, and based on the facts and the numbers,” he said. “Because until we do that, it’s going to be hard to forge the consensus for how we fix the problem.”

O’Malley said he’s running “because I believe I can lead us out of this darkness and into a better future where we do a better job of connecting with the American people around the economic reality.”

He said he believes Vice President Kamala Harris lost because of “the politics of fear.”

“I believe that the American people’s eyes were taken off the ball and by the politics of fear,” O’Malley said. “And I believe that in order for us to rebuild and win elections, we have to be entirely focused on winning elections. Because if we don’t win, everybody loses. We have to engage in the economic arguments as to why the choices that we are making are better for Americans all over the country.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to O’Malley for comment but did not receive a response.

Other candidates for DNC chairperson include Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, Minnesota Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin, and former Chicago mayor and Obama adviser Rahm Emanuel. Wikler has picked up the most steam of the bunch, given that he is known as a “prodigious fundraiser.”

The DNC election will take place early next year, and 447 committee members will vote on who the next chairperson will be.