Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb has decided to drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Webb, who was secretary of the navy under President Ronald Reagan, is still considering running as an independent.
Webb has failed to attract a large base in a race that has been dominated by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He made it clear at a press conference that he doesn’t like the direction of either party at a press conference in Washington DC, reports Fox News.
Webb said that the other candidates are “increasingly out of step with the people they're supposed to serve” and that voters aren’t comfortable with “the extremes.”
“For this reason, I'm withdrawing from any consideration of being the Democratic Party's nominee for the presidency,” Webb said today. “How I remain as a voice will depend on what kind of support I'm shown in the coming weeks.”
As the Washington Post notes, Webb tried to focus his campaign on foreign policy and pointed out that he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. Unfortunately, his messages never connected with voters and he only earned about 1 percent of support in national polls. He also gave a bad performance at the first Democratic debate last week.
Webb, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said that his team is looking at possibly running for president as an independent.