In 2006, nearing the end of his second term as mayor, O'Malley announced his candidacy for Governor of Maryland, an office he would win by a sizeable margin.

[10] In the next month, he said that Clinton, who launched her own 2016 campaign, would be a "great president", brushing off questions about his own potential candidacy and commenting that he would have to do "a lot of soul-searching and discernment and introspection.

[16] During a speech at Harvard's Institute of Politics, O'Malley stated his support for a $15 minimum wage, claiming that it will "fuel economic growth, greater consumer demand.

"[18] During his final year serving as the Governor of Maryland, O'Malley signed a bill to gradually raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

[25] When he was Governor of Maryland, O'Malley signed a statewide DREAM Act allowing young illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition and to a bill to get driver's licenses.

In May 2013 he signed the Firearm Safety Act which bans magazines that hold more than 10 bullets; bans 45 types of semiautomatic rifles; and requires people seeking to buy any gun other than a hunting rifle or shotgun to obtain a license, submit fingerprints to police, undergo a background check and pass classroom and firing-range training in Maryland.

He added that "Passing a constitutional amendment that enshrines that right... will give U.S. courts the clarity they need to strike down Republican efforts to suppress the vote.