Chelsea Manning has officially filed to run for the U.S. Senate in the 2018 Maryland Democratic primary, challenging senior senator Ben Cardin.
The state elections board website says Manning filed Thursday in Montgomery County. Manning also tweeted a photo Thursday evening saying she is officially on the ballot.
She announced her intention to run earlier this month and released her first campaign video on January 14.
Chelsea Manning has officially filed to run for the U.S. Senate in the 2018 Maryland Democratic primary. She tweeted a picture saying she is on the ballot
‘We don’t need more, or better leaders,’ Manning says in the promotional video.
‘We need someone willing to fight. We need to stop asking them to give us our rights. They won’t support us, they won’t compromise.’
The 30-year-old transgender woman, known as Bradley Manning when she was convicted in 2013 of leaking more than 700,000 classified documents, was released from military prison in May after a 35-year sentence was commuted.
Then-U.S. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence to time served plus 120 days in the final days of his administration.
This frame from video released by the Chelsea Manning Senate campaign on January 14 shows Chelsea Manning in a campaign video. Manning on Sunday confirmed via Twitter that she is a candidate for U.S. Senate. (Chelsea Manning For US Senate via AP)
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he looks forward to a ‘strong campaign’ against Manning or any other contenders. Cardin won his seat in an open race in 2006.
Cardin is the highest-ranking party member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Manning is one of five Democrats who plan to run in the race.
The Oklahoma native had planned to move to Maryland, where she has an aunt after her release from prison.
She has been registered to vote at the apartment in North Bethesda since mid-August, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections.
Manning will run against two-term incumbent Democrat Ben Cardin
Her recent move would not affect a Senate bid. To run for that office, a person must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for nine years and an inhabitant of the state at election time, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. A felony conviction does not appear to preclude a run.
She has made only a few appearances since her release. In September, Harvard University reversed a decision to name her a visiting fellow after CIA director Mike Pompeo scrapped a planned appearance over the designation, calling Manning an ‘American traitor.’
And Manning tweeted two weeks later that she’d been denied entry into Canada because of her U.S. criminal record.