Martin O’Malley makes appeal to young voters at Concord High School.

Less than 48 hours after Saturday night’s Democratic party debate, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley took a different stage.

He spoke to an auditorium of Concord High School students Monday morning, delivering his pitch to a group of teenagers preparing to vote for the first time. His speech focused heavily on the economy – the need to raise incomes and reduce college debt for young people.

“This, my fellow Americans, is not an economy that’s working well for all of us,” O’Malley said. “This is a widening opportunity gap that is not consistent with the country that prides itself on getting every generation of its people more opportunities and more prosperity than the generation before.”

At 52 years old, O’Malley is the youngest candidate in the Democratic contest for president. He walked on stage to “Shipping out to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys, to which students clapped along enthusiastically. The students laughed appreciatively when, while moving to fix a microphone, he told them about his band. He talked about his children, two of whom are also high school students.

But it is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, more than 20 years O’Malley’s senior, who has captured much of the millennial interest in this presidential election cycle. While Sanders trails former secretary of state Hillary Clinton nationwide, a University of New Hampshire poll found 74 percent of voters between 18 and 34 years old would vote for the Vermont senator. Eighteen percent would cast their ballots for Clinton, the poll found, and just two percent would choose O’Malley.

And that trend is apparently mirrored at Concord High School. Conor Kilgore, a junior and the president of the Concord High School Candidate Club, described Sanders as “an old white man” – but said he was one of the dominant candidates during a recent straw poll among his classmates. (Trump and Clinton also received high tallies.)

In the long line for questions, Aldon Hussey asked the former Baltimore mayor and governor from Maryland about his plans for racial justice, especially in light of the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department.

O’Malley talked about his own record on criminal justice in Baltimore, where he started as a prosecutor. He advocated for body cameras and more data reporting for law enforcement.

“My politics is the politics of inclusion,” O’Malley said, to applause from the students.

The junior is a few months shy of eligible voting age. While he liked O’Malley, Hussey said he would cast his ballot for Sanders in the upcoming primary if he could. He said he is attracted to that candidate’s socialist views, and he cited the senator’s call for a single-payer health care system.

But Hussey said he appreciated O’Malley’s answer to his question, and he lingered to shake the candidate’s hand as his classmates streamed back into the hallways. “I wanted to spread the message of peace,” Hussey said.

Emily Gorham and Ivy Noel will be able to vote in February, and they paid particular attention to O’Malley’s take on college affordability. “I like how he focused on domestic issues,” Gorham said.

Delia Barry, a junior, was one of several students who helped O’Malley act out the growing income gap in the United States. Barry also cannot vote this cycle, but O’Malley’s visit didn’t convince her she would vote for him.

She said he was an engaging speaker, however, and she appreciated his pledge to move to end reliance on fossil fuels by 2050.

“I really liked his thoughts on the environment,” Barry said.

O’Malley signed a banner for the school during his visit; the candidate club had collected one other candidate signature so far – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. (Graham, who is similarly plagued by low poll numbers, dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination Monday morning while O’Malley was in Concord.)

Before he left, O’Malley said he finds young people important to the future of the country – and the presidential campaign.

“I believe young people in particular should tell us which way our country is going,” O’Malley said. “If you talk to young millennials, you’ll rarely find among them people that want to deny climate change or bash immigrants or slam our door in the face of refugees. . . . You’ll rarely find young people that want to deny rights to gay couples and their kids.”

“I think once the holidays pass, you’re going to see a lot of decision-making begin in earnest with young and old people alike,” he added.

https://politics.concordmonitor.com/2015/12/politics-election/martin-omalley-makes-appeal-to-young-voters-at-concord-high-school/