Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his second presidential run Tuesday during a press conference in his hometown of Hope.
“We were promised hope, but it was just talk,” he said. “Now we need the kind of change that can get America from hope to higher ground.”
Huckabee railed against increasing debt, America’s waning standing globally, and lack of veterans’ employment and healthcare under President Obama.
“They’re going to be treated with the dignity they’ve earned and deserve,” he said about America’s veterans. He also said wages have been driven “lower than the Dead Sea” under President Obama.
The former Fox News host also criticized D.C. politicians: “People go in, but they never come out.” He vowed as president to seek term limits for all three branches of government.
Huckabee won the Iowa caucus in 2008 when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination. John McCain eventually won the party primary, losing to President Obama in the general election.
With his announcement, Huckabee joins a crowded 2016 Republican field, with Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina already declaring their candidacies.