Chafee reportedly plans to announce next week

Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee will jump into the Democratic presidential field with an official announcement on Wednesday, according to a Friday news report.

Politico reports that Chafee will announce during a speech at the George Mason Center for Politics & Foreign Relations and will travel to New Hampshire the following day to meet Democrats in Grafton County.

{mosads}Chafee announced his surprise exploratory bid in April while bashing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton for her vote to authorize the Iraq War in 2003. Chafee also served in the Senate at that time and voted against the war.

He panned the vote during an April interview with The Hill as a “disqualifier” and said that it led to the current rise of Islamic militants in the Middle East.

Chafee entered politics as a Republican but split from the party and became an independent, endorsing then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008. He became Rhode Island’s governor in 2010, switching to the Democratic Party in 2013. Instead of facing a tight primary challenge the following year, he decided not to run.

A challenge to Clinton’s front-runner status is a tough climb for any Democratic politician. And Chafee’s name recognition is significantly below that of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or former Gov. Martin O’Malley (Md.), Democratic challengers whose national brands still pale in comparison to Clinton’s.

Five percent of Democratic respondents in a national Public Policy Polling survey said they would vote for Chafee, but he scored just 1 percent in recent Quinnipiac and CNN polls.