Jim Webb has dropped his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The former Virginia senator said on Tuesday, however, that should current frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump become the Democratic and Republican candidates, he would be able to win election to the White House as an independent.
Appearing in downtown Washington at the National Press Club, Webb said: “I am withdrawing from any consideration of being the Democratic party’s nominee for the presidency.”
Regarding the widely reported possibility of his mounting a third-party run, he said: “I am not going away. I am thinking through all of my options.”
Webb later told reporters he had “no doubt if I ran as an independent, we would have significant financial help”, and expressed his confidence that he could beat Clinton and Trump.
He also vehemently criticized the Democratic party “hierarchy”, alleging it had rigged the primary process on behalf of Clinton.
Tuesday’s press conference was a rare public event for Webb, who ran a lackluster campaign. A one-term senator who has been out of Congress for two years, he has not built any campaign infrastructure and has only visited the crucial early states of Iowa and New Hampshire a handful of times.
In the most recent campaign finance report, Webb reported raising less than $700,000 over a nine-month period and had $316,765 on hand. In contrast, Clinton and the independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders raised $29.4m and $26.2m respectively.
On Tuesday, Webb admitted that when it came to campaigning, “there were times where we did and times where we did not”. He added, regarding the early voting states, “we didn’t make as many visits as we could have”.
The only real national attention Webb has received since declaring his candidacy came in last week’s first Democratic debate in Nevada. There, Webb repeatedly complained about not getting enough time to speak, and appeared to boast about killing a man in combat while serving in the Vietnam war.
Neither statement resonated with voters.
Webb’s political career has been that of a maverick. A former Republican and the author of 10 books, he served four years as secretary of the navy in the Reagan administration. In his time in the Senate, from 2007 to 2013, he pushed for increased aid to veterans and for criminal justice reform.
In a statement, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was diplomatic about Webb’s decision to drop out.
“Since declaring his candidacy, we’ve praised Senator Webb’s long and distinguished record of service to his country, both in our military and in public office,” said Wasserman-Schultz.
“We were glad to welcome him on to the debate stage last week in Nevada and wish him well going forward.”
