CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Former New York Gov. George Pataki is the latest Republican to get into the race for president.
In a video posted Thursday morning on YouTube, Pataki says America needs to recapture the spirit of unity that spread through the country in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was in his second of three terms as governor when the attacks struck New York and Washington, and Pataki highlights his role in New York and the country’s recovery in the video.
“We are all in this together. And let us all understand that what unites us is so much more important than what might seem superficially to divide us,” Pataki says in the video which includes a logo that reads, “Pataki for President.”
Pataki is expected to formally announce his candidacy later Thursday. He’s scheduled to speak in Exeter, New Hampshire, which served as the state capital during the Revolutionary War and claims to be the birthplace of the Republican Party.
After flirting with the idea of a White House run in both 2008 and 2012, Pataki starts the 2016 campaign as a longshot in a crowded Republican field that includes several current and former governors, sitting senators, business leaders and a renowned neurosurgeon.