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The most prominent announcement in recency came from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. On Sunday of this week, April 12th, she announced her candidacy for president via this YouTube video:
According to the New York Times, her campaign has leased two floors of office space in Brooklyn for her headquarters. They say that she has built the largest campaign operation of any candidate so far, with Robby Mook, a veteran of her 2008 campaign, as the leading contender for the position of being her campaign manager. The media and her critics have made an issue of her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state, and she recently gave a news conference to try to reassure supporters that there was no substance to any allegations of wrongdoing on her part.
A second candidate who has formally declared his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination is former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chaffee, who made his announcement on Thursday (April 16th). Chaffee was once a Republican senator who cast the party's only vote against the Iraq war. He told CNN that Hillary Clinton's vote to authorize the war should disqualify her from the presidency.
Meanwhile, four prominent Republicans have formally announced their candidacy so far:
1. Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced his candidacy on March 22nd in the form of a tweet which read "I'm running for President and I hope to earn your support! " Cruz began his candidacy with a series of television appearances and speeches throughout the two early primary and caucus states of New Hampshire and Iowa. He's opened up his presidential campaign headquarters in Houston. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and a debate will ensue about whether or not he is even eligible to run for President. According to CNN, Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father and American mother, and was a dual citizen until he renounced Canadian citizenship in 2014. CNN's legal experts consider him a natural-born citizen because he was born to an American mother and therefore constitutionally eligible to hold the office.
2. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul formally announced his candidacy for President on April 7th. Paul's website quoted him as saying “I am running for president to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government.” Mr. Paul won the straw CPAC poll for the third straight year, and his speech at the CPAC conference was greeted with shouts of "President Paul!" He has hired Chip Englander, who managed Bruce Rauner's successful campaign for governor of Illinois, as his campaign manager.
3. Florida Senator Marco Rubio announced his candidacy this past Monday (April 13th) in a speech made at Miami's Freedom Tower. The 43 year old Rubio contract himself with older candidates such as Clinton and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, both in their 60s. He said “Too many of our leaders and our ideas are stuck in the 20th century.” Rubio has hired Jim Merrill, who previously ran Mitt Romney's primary campaigns in New Hampshire, as his campaign manager.
4. Carly Fiorina: The former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard formally entered the race for President this past Sunday (April 12th) according to US News and World Report (although subsequent CNN and Wall Street Journal stories describe her as a "likely" candidate). She spoke at CPAC, where she attacked Hillary Clinton. She has hired Sarah Isgur Flores, the former deputy communications director for the Republican National Committee, to work for her super PAC, entitled "Unlocking Potential."
Those are the big names who have declared so far. This New York Times graphic shows who else is expected to run in the race (though since this was printed, Chaffee and possibly Fiorina have both formally entered the race):
As for other potential Democratic candidates, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has stated "I’m very seriously considering running in 2016.” O’Malley has indicated that he will make a final decision on running sometime in May. Last November, 69 year old former Virginia Senator Jim Webb became the first Democrat to take the step of forming a committee to explore a presidential bid in 2016. In his announcement video, he said that America was at a "serious crossroads" and touted his own record of leadership.
Vice-President Joe Biden remains coy, telling reporters that he hasn't made up his mind yet. A "Draft Biden 2016" website has sprung up, but Biden himself has said that he will wait until this summer before making up his mind.
There are at least eight other Republicans who are listed as "probably running." These are:
1. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush: In December, he announced on Facebook that he was “actively” exploring a presidential run.. He has been doing a considerable amount of fundraising, using his "Right to Rise" super PAC to raise money at big dollar events. His PAC has has hired David Kochel, a Republican strategist based in Iowa, as a senior strategist and many pundits think he will serve as national campaign manager. Bush has resigned from outside corporate and nonprofit board positions and sold his shares in his remaining businesses, and many believe that's a sure sign of his plans to run.
2. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: He was the first candidate to open a campaign office in Iowa and he hired Rick Wiley, a former Republican National Committee political director, to build his political operation. His PAC is called "Unintimidated" and is led by Keith Gilkes, a longtime Walker aide who ran Walker's 2010 gubernatorial campaign and then served as his chief of staff. Walker gave a well-received speech to conservatives at the Iowa Freedom Summit in late January. He has been crossing the country to speak at political events, including visits to early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. His new organization, Our American Revival, has been quickly adding staffers.
3. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: He has said "I am thinking about it. You can imagine that this is a really difficult decision to make and an important one.” Christie has made more than a dozen trips to Iowa since 2010, including one in January to speak at the Iowa Freedom Summit, a grass-roots gathering of the party’s more conservative base. He recently went on a three-day trade mission to Britain, just months after similar visits to Mexico and to Canada, in what many believe is an effort to build his foreign policy credentials.
4. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee: He left a well-paying position at Fox News, stating “I feel compelled to ascertain if the support exists strongly enough for another presidential run. So as we say in television, stay tuned!” Nick Ryan has started a super PAC supporting Mr. Huckabee, called "Pursuing America's Greatness." CNN has reported that Huckabee will make the formal announcement of his candidacy on May 5th in a speech he is giving in Hope, Arkansas.
5. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum: He has been talking as if he will be running again in 2016, saying “We’re just obviously in a better place right now. Our message will be a lot more focused this time than it was last time.” He has been critical of his fellow contenders Senator Rand Paul and Senator Ted Cruz, saying, "Do we really want somebody who’s a bomb thrower, with no track record of any accomplishments?”
6. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry: He hasn't announced his intention to run yet, but has been critical of other proposed candidates. He said “I’ve spent the last 22, 23 months in preparation to run for the presidency.” He has said of declared candidates Paul, Cruz and Rubio, "Do you want to take a chance on someone who doesn't have an executive track record of being an executive? When you walk off the Senate floor, you walk off the Senate floor. You don't walk away from things when you're governor. You have to deal with things." Perry has hired Austin Barbour, a Mississippi-based lobbyist and political operative, to head a "super PAC" to support his campaign.
7. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal: Jindal has told reporters that he is “thinking and praying” about a run for the Presidency. He spoke at the CPAC conference and his supporters have set up "Believe Again," a super PAC to support his 2016 run. But the Louisiana legislature is currently facing a huge, $1.6 billion budget deficit, and many pundits believe that Jindal needs to find an acceptable solution to this crisis before he joins the race.
8. Dr. Ben Carson: CNN says that retired neurosurgeon Carson will formally announce his candidacy in a speech in Detroit on May 4th. The National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee has raised some $12 million towards his campaign.
And so it appears that the race is on and for the next year or so. As Mike Huckabee said, stay tuned!