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By Ben Schreckinger

1/8/15 9:42 PM EST

Updated 1/8/15 9:49 PM EST

Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley said Thursday that hell decide on whether to run for president after spending a couple of months settling his family back into Baltimore, even as he acknowledged Democrats disastrous showing in the midterms had caused him to question the direction of the progressive movement.

And while he admitted hed faced setbacks as governor, OMalley also forcefully defended his technocratic style and progressive tendencies, and he predicted that the issue of economic inequality would dominate the 2016 campaign.

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Im very seriously looking at a presidential run, OMalley told a packed audience at the University of Chicagos Institute of Politics. Ive been encouraged as I travel around the country, by the number of people who repeat again and again and again their desire for getting things done again as a country and for new leadership in order to get those things done.

The gathering, which included remarks from OMalley and a question-and-answer session, was hosted by the institutes founding director David Axelrod. OMalley has struggled to gain media attention amid the constant coverage of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and appearing with Axelrod, President Barack Obamas longtime adviser, gave him a platform.

OMalley prepares to leave office Jan. 21 on a somewhat deflated note. His approval ratings sank to 41 percent, an eight-year low, in October just before long-shot Republican candidate Larry Hogan upset OMalleys hand-picked successor, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, in Novembers gubernatorial election. Hogan won on the strength of a campaign that relentlessly pounded OMalleys fiscal record, which included a series of tax hikes.

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O'Malley, eyeing 2016, admits progressives' setbacks