Get the scorecard ready: the Republican Presidential field has just expanded by one. Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore filed paperwork Wednesday to join the crowded field of contenders, becoming 17 in a long line of would-be Presidents in the 2016 election.
Gilmore served Virginia from 1998 to 2002, according to the New York Times. He ran for president in 2007 as well, but dropped out of the race due to a lack of financial support. He ran for Senate in 2008, but did not win. During his political career, Gilmore also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Because he has only just entered the race, it is unlikely that Gilmore will participate in the first Republican Presidential debate, scheduled for Aug. 6.
The former governor was also an army intelligence specialist, a Virginia attorney general and a prosecutor. He is 65. Gilmore plans to formally announce his candidacy in August, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I bring to the table experience that others don't have," he said of the 2016 Presidential race. Gilmore says that foreign affairs are his chief concern.
"All the polls I've seen so far have [Gilmore] at the one percent level of below," Larry Sabato, head of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said.
Jim Gilmore's paperwork has officially been filed and accepted by the Federal Election Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal.
