The Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal, announced on Monday that he was forming a presidential exploratory committee.
This step makes it even more likely that the two-term governor will be yet another candidate in the growing Republican presidential field for 2016.
Jindal, a former Rhodes scholar long hailed as a rising star in the GOP, is the first Indian American elected to serve as governor. He has long been considered to be potential presidential timber.
However, he has become unpopular in his own state. He also briefly became a national punchline in 2009, when his response to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was widely compared to the character Kenneth the Page from the hit sitcom 30 Rock.
Jindal, though, has long considered a presidential bid and has frequently visited early primary states like Iowa and South Carolina. His pitch on the campaign trail has focused on his immigrant background and populist opposition to Common Core education standards and what he terms the Washington establishment.
However, he still has been mired in the low single-digits in both national and statewide polls.
In a statement, Jindal said he would “make a final decision [on whether to run for the presidency] in June, after the legislative session in Louisiana ends”.
