O’Malley heading back to Iowa

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who is considering launching a 2016 bid for the White House, will return to Iowa in March and April, The Des Moines Register reported Monday.

He will speak to the Scott County Democratic Party’s “Red, White and Blue Dinner” on March 20. O’Malley will return to Iowa on April 10 for a dinner put on by the Polk County Democrats.

{mosads}He’s also traveling to New Hampshire and South Carolina, two other states with early nominating contests, in the next few months.

O’Malley visited Iowa multiple times last year. He has long been considering a challenge to a likely Hillary Clinton candidacy. Some progressives believe he could attack Clinton from the left.

Over the last year, the former governor has staked out more liberal positions than Clinton or President Obama. On Monday, he penned an op-ed in The New York Times saying that the Obama administration’s plan to allow offshore oil drilling off of the East Coast was “a big mistake.”

He also took issue this summer with the position of both the White House and Clinton that unaccompanied child immigrants who crossed the southern border should be sent back to their home countries. He said that to do so would be like to sending them to “certain death.”

He said in August that he was “seriously considering” a 2016 run. And Clinton’s camp has discussed pushing back her official decision to the summer, which could give O’Malley more time to raise his profile.