The Associated Press is reporting that former Va. Gov. Jim Gilmore has officially announced he is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John Warner. Gilmore announced his candidacy by posting a video to YouTube.
The formal announcement sets up Gilmore as the presumed Republican nominee for the seat, as the other leading candidate, Rep. Tom Davis (Va.-R), announced last month that he would not seek the seat.
Gilmore will face another former governor, the extremely popular Democrat Mark Warner. In a Washington Post poll at the beginning of October, Mark Warner had a 30 point lead over Gilmore among likely voters. Another poll commissioned by WJLA/ABC7 gave Warner a 28 point lead over Gilmore.
