Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on
Wednesday officially announced that he is running for president in
2016.
“I'm running for President of the
United States of America,” he messaged followers on Twitter ahead
of a formal announcement in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans.
Jindal is the 13th candidate
for the Republican presidential nomination, with several more
expected to follow.
The Washington Post notes that
Jindal's “chances of winning the GOP nomination seem
extraordinarily low” and points out that Jindal came behind “None
of the Above” in the most recent Fox News poll of candidates.
Like all of his Republican rivals for
the GOP nomination, Jindal does not support marriage equality.
(Former New York Governor George Pataki has not publicly stated his
position on the issue, saying only that the issue of marriage should
be left up to the states. As governor, he signed a gay protections
bill.)
Jindal also recently made headlines
when he issued an executive order mere hours after Louisiana
lawmakers shelved a controversial “religious freedom” bill that
sought to prohibit the government from taking adverse action against
a person for expressing a religious belief or moral conviction about
marriage. Jindal's order closely mirrors the proposed bill.