--- title: Jim Webb Announces Exploratory Committee for a Presidential Run description: Former Senator Jim Webb announced late Wednesday that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for President. canonical: https://time.com/3597133/jim-webb-presidential-run/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-20T12:56:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:35:10.466Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jim Webb Announces Exploratory Committee for a Presidential Run og:description: Former Senator Jim Webb announced late Wednesday that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for President. og:url: https://time.com/3597133/jim-webb-presidential-run/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99711b8e80aa33a0/698769dae53aba89f94d6081/jim-webb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senate Democrats Introduce Legislation On Oversight Of Wartime Contracting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jim Webb Announces Exploratory Committee for a Presidential Run twitter:description: Former Senator Jim Webb announced late Wednesday that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for President. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99711b8e80aa33a0/698769dae53aba89f94d6081/jim-webb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jim Webb Announces Exploratory Committee for a Presidential Run  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Nov 20, 2014 12:56 PM UTC  Then-Sen. Jim Webb at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, in 2012. Then-Sen. Jim Webb at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, in 2012.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Nov 20, 2014 12:56 PM UTC Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced late Wednesday that [he was forming an exploratory committe](http://webb2016.com/)e to run for President. The Senator, a Vietnam veteran who was elected in 2006 for a single term as a Democrat, had announced in 2012 that he was retiring from politics. Now, he’s the first potential candidate to announce an exploratory committee, which will allow him to raise funds and test the waters for a run for the White House. “We desperately need to fix our country, and to reinforce the values that have sustained us, many of which have fallen by the wayside in the nasty debates of the last several years,” Webb says in a 14-minute video explaining his decision, in which he brandishes his cross-aisle experience working in the Reagan administration. “I hope you will consider joining me in that effort.” The Senator raised his national profile in 2006, weeks after taking office, when he gave his party’s response to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3597133/jim-webb-presidential-run/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3597133/jim-webb-presidential-run/"},"headline":"Jim Webb Announces Exploratory Committee for a Presidential Run","datePublished":"2014-11-20T12:56:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:35:10.466Z","description":"And so it begins.","url":"https://time.com/3597133/jim-webb-presidential-run/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","democrat","presidency","Jim Webb","Elections 2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99711b8e80aa33a0/698769dae53aba89f94d6081/jim-webb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99711b8e80aa33a0/698769dae53aba89f94d6081/jim-webb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Democrats Introduce Legislation On Oversight Of Wartime Contracting","caption":"Then Sen. 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