Former Rhode Island Governor/U.S. Senator/Republican/Independent Lincoln Chafee announced (sort of) earlier today on CNN that he will be running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. Last week, he announced that he had formed an exploratory committee. Chafee was a Senator from 1999 to 2007 (as a Republican) and was governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015.
Despite Chafee's claims of "I'm running," his spokesperson disputes this.
"Yes, that's why I'm running. Because I feel strong about where we're going as a country," Chafee told CNN's "New Day" on Thursday, when asked why he's been so critical of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Chafee was asked by CNN's John Berman in the context of having not formally declared his presidential campaign.
Chafee spokeswoman Debbie Rich said Chafee did not declare himself as a candidate for president Thursday, despite saying "that's why I'm running."
"We are still in the exploratory committee phase," she told CNN in a phone interview, adding, "We will file the proper papers to be an official candidate, but that has not happened yet."
Chafee admits that he's certainly got an uphill battle to win the nomination, but noted that "America loves an underdog."