Gilmore for America
Campaign	U.S. presidential election, 2016
Candidate	Jim Gilmore 69th Governor of Virginia (1998–2002)
Affiliation	Republican Party
Status	Announced: July 30, 2015 Suspended: February 12, 2016
Headquarters	PO Box 29322 Henrico, Virginia
Receipts	US$214,440 (December 31, 2015[1])
Website
www.GilmoreforAmerica.com

The 2016 presidential campaign of Jim Gilmore, the 68th Governor of Virginia, was officially launched on July 30, 2015, when Gilmore filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and announced his candidacy through a variety of news outlets.^[2] Gilmore suspended his campaign on February 12, 2016, after failing to qualify for inclusion in the Republican primary debates and receiving the fewest votes on record in the New Hampshire primary.^[3]

Background[edit]

Gilmore, who served as Governor of Virginia from 1998–2002 and Chair of the Republican National Committee from January to December 2001, made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2008 election cycle. Gilmore later ran for the U.S Senate seat being vacated by Republican John Warner. He faced Democratic fellow former Governor Mark Warner, who was Gilmore's successor as Governor in 2002, and lost the election by a large margin.

Campaign[edit]

Gilmore campaigning

Gilmore formally announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican Party (GOP) presidential nomination via an internet video clip on July 30, 2015,^[2] a day after filing as a candidate with the FEC.^[4] The same evening, he appeared on Special Report with Bret Baier as the "center seat" where panelists Charles Krauthammer, Julie Pace, and Steve Hayes questioned him on a variety of issues.^[5]

Gilmore was consistently the lowest-polling candidate in the 2016 GOP field.^{[citation needed]} He rarely registered more than 1% in a national poll, often polling at 0%, and sometimes was not offered as a choice. This resulted in his polling at 0.0% in the Huffington Post aggregate poll,^[6] and lack of showings in the earlier Real Clear Politics aggregate poll.^[7] Gilmore failed to qualify for all but two of the "undercard" lower-tier debates. He was the only commonly polled candidate to be left out of more than one undercard debate.^[8] Gilmore insisted that he was "not going anywhere" and would continue to run.^[9]

On January 26, 2016, after being denied participation in five consecutive debates, Gilmore was invited back for the "undercard" debate on January 28, his first debate since August. This was the last debate before the Iowa caucuses. The "undercard" debates were discontinued after the Iowa Caucuses.^[10]

After 12 residents of Iowa caucused for Gilmore and he received 133 votes in the New Hampshire primary,^{[11][12][13][14]} he said he intended to continue his campaign into South Carolina.^[15] However, Gilmore suspended his campaign a week before that primary, on February 12, 2016.^[16]

Endorsements[edit]

References[edit]