Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb is considering changing course and running as an independent instead, according to his campaign.
Webb’s campaign announced he will “discuss his candidacy, the campaign and his views of the political parties in the current election cycle” at the National Press Club Tuesday. The emailed statement was titled “Jim Webb to Consider Independent Run.”
The former Virginia senator has been polling at less than 1 percent since he announced his campaign in June. But he hasn’t been focusing much on campaigning, often skipping key campaign events for personal reasons. He spent July 4th with his family rather than on the campaign trail and he skipped the Democratic National Committee summer meeting to move his daughter into college.
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Webb, a decorated war veteran, has based his campaign on his foreign policy credentials as well as his military service in Vietnam. When asked during the first Democratic debate who his proudest enemy was, he replied it was the man who tried to kill him in Vietnam, noting “he’s not around anymore.”
As a former Republican who served in the Reagan administration, his more conservative views haven’t appealed to the progressive 2016 Democratic voters. During the first Democratic debate last Tuesday, Webb received speaking time proportionate with his low polling numbers, and has since railed against other candidates and the Democratic debate rules.
“In that kind of environment it was either going to be Mr. Angry or be a potted plant,” a disgruntled Webb said in an email to supporters following the debate. “It’s very difficult to win a debate when you don’t have the opportunity to get to speak in the same amount of time on issues as the others get.”
