Former U.S. Senator Announces Run for President in Arlington

Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee announced he is running for president Wednesday afternoon in Arlington during a foreign policy address at George Mason University’s School of Policy, Government and International Affairs.

Chafee, a former Republican senator and Independent governor of Rhode Island, announced that he is running in the Democratic primary. He enters a field against former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton as well as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

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First elected to public office in 1985 as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention, Chafee served on the Warwick City Council from 1986 to 1990. In 1992, he became the first Republican mayor of Warwick in 32 years. In 1999, Chafee was appointed to fill the unexpired term of his late father, U.S. Senator John H. Chafee. In 2000 he was elected to a full six-year term.

In 2010, Chafee became the first Independent elected Governor of Rhode Island in over 150 years. Chafee and his wife, Stephanie, have three children, and live in Warwick, R. I.

Chafee’s was expected to take place Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at George Mason University’s Founders Hall Auditorium, Room 134 at 3351 Fairfax Drive in Arlington.

The event is sponsored by the Financial Times and George Mason University’s School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs. Seating is limited. If you plan to attend, RSVP to Robert Guttman, director of the Center for Politics and Foreign Relations, SPGIA, George Mason University at rguttman@gmu.edu.

Watch a video below from Chafee’s 2016 Presidential Exploratory Committee Web site: