Former Gov. Martin O'Malley Endorses Hillary Clinton for President

Annapolis, MD — Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has endorsed his one-time rival, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination.

O’Malley suspended his presidential campaign after he finished a disappointing third in Iowa in its first-in-the nation caucuses in February with only 1 percent of the vote.

Earlier Thursday President Barack Obama gave his endorsement to Clinton, who presumably locked up her party’s nomination this week, making history as the first woman to be the standard bearer of a major political party.

Obama called his former secretary of state and one-time political rival supremely prepared to lead the country.

"I know how hard this job can be," Obama said in an endorsement video. "That's why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office."

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Via Twitter, O’Malley said:

“For the future of the country, I am committing my energies to the election of Secretary Clinton as the next President. The stakes are far too high for the untested hands of @realDonaldTrump. America needs a tried and true leader. Hillary is that leader.

“I commend Senator #Sanders for waging an exciting campaign focused on important progressive issues about which so many of us care so deeply.

"We must come together to confront the fascist threat to our democracy presented by Donald Trump," O'Malley said.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders met with Obama earlier in the day and promised to take the problems of income disparity and campaign finance with him to the Democratic National Convention next month.

And while he did not formally bow out of the race — he trails by hundreds of delegates with only Washington, D.C., left to vote Tuesday — Sanders said he will do anything he can to make sure Trump does not take the White House.

"Donald Trump would clearly, to my mind, and I think to the majority of Americans, be a disaster as president of the United State," he told reporters. "It's unbelievable to me -- and I say this sincerely -- that the Republican party would have a candidate for president who in the year 2016 makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign."

Sanders, who was scheduled to hold a rally Thursday night in the nation's capital, said he will stay in the race through Tuesday's Washington, D.C., primary but hopes to meet with Clinton and talk about how they can work together.

O’Malley, the former Baltimore mayor (1999-2007) and Maryland governor (2007-2015), joined the race for the presidential nomination in May 2015