Republican Ed Gillespie Confirms He Is Running for Governor: Report

Former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie plans to run for governor of Virginia in 2017, he confirmed Friday to The Washington Post.

No word on when Gillespie will make an official announcement; last time he ran for office, he posted a video on YouTube announcing his run for 2014 U.S. Senate run.

Gillespie’s run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Mark Warner was a tight race, with Gillespie nabbing 48.3 percent of the vote to Warner’s 49.1 percent. (An independent candidate also ran.) The race was an expensive one; Warner spent $18 million and Gillespie spent nearly $8 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Gillespie’s confirmation that he intends to run for governor comes on the heels of fellow Republican state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain’s announcement Monday that he would not seek the GOP’s nomination.

Gillespie has been traveling Virginia, visiting with local Republicans, posts to his Twitter account show.

Current Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, won’t be able to run again. Virginia is the only state in the country that bars its governors from seeking reelection. Democrat Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam is seeking to succeed him, The Post reported earlier this year. Northam has already raised more than $300,000, according to Virginia Public Access Project.

Gillespie is a founder of QGA Public Affairs, a bipartisan lobbying firm on Connecticut Avenue in DC; he is also a senior counselor at Brunswick Group and is principal of Ed Gillespie Strategies in Old Town Alexandria.

PHOTO: Ed Gillespie; photo from US Senate campaign