Is Hillary PAC stepping on O’Malley’s toes?

Ready for Hillary is holding events this week in the home state of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), a potential presidential rival to Hillary Clinton. 

{mosads}The group, which is not formally affiliated with Clinton but has gained welcome among her advisers, will hold a fundraiser at a Potomac, Md., home on Thursday. That follows an event held at Goucher College in Baltimore on Monday.

The events are featuring a number of top Democratic figures in Maryland who support Clinton, ahead of a possible 2016 presidential run.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) told the Monday gathering that the state would provide a “groundswell of grassroots” support for Clinton, according to The Baltimore Sun. 

Seth Bringman, a spokesman for Ready for Hillary, said about 100 people attended the event, mostly young professionals giving $20.16 each.

The Thursday event’s host committee includes Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, state Treasurer Nancy Kopp, state Senate President Mike Miller and other members of the legislature. 

O’Malley says he is weighing a bid and has been laying the groundwork for a run with visits to early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

He has also gone to Clinton’s left on some issues, warning President Obama not to send unaccompanied children entering the U.S. illegally back across the border this summer, and urging the rejection of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. 

O’Malley faced a possible setback to a presidential run on Election Day, when his lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown (D), lost the governor’s race to Republican Larry Hogan. 

Asked by the Washington Blade last month whether the loss would hurt his chances, O’Malley said, “Don’t know, don’t care.”