Jim Webb
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Today's presidential bid announcement comes from former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who's decided to try his luck against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley in seeking the Democratic nomination for president.

"Our country needs a fresh approach to solving the problems that confront us and too often unnecessarily divide us," Webb wrote in the full announcement on his website. A Vietnam veteran who also served as navy secretary under President Reagan, Webb's views can be unpredictable. After the allegedly racially motivated shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, for example, he defended the Confederate flag, instructing his followers on Facebook that they ought to "remember that honorable Americans fought on both sides of the Civil War."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.