Jim Webb, who mounted a short-lived long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination, said he doesn't have the money to mount an independent run for the White House. | Getty Jim Webb rules out independent run for president

Former Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb is ruling out an independent bid for president, he said Thursday.

Webb, a former Navy secretary in Ronald Reagan’s administration, said both parties have shifted from the major concerns of everyday Americans but emphasized that he didn't have enough resources to sustain an independent run.


“Theoretically, it could be done. But it is enormously costly and time-sensitive, and I don’t see the fundraising trajectory where we could make a realistic run,” Webb said in a foreign-policy address at the World Affairs Council in Dallas.

Webb reported raising less than $697,000 in the third quarter of last year, and having less than $317,000 in cash on hand in his October filing statement. In the final quarter of 2015, he reported raising $68,000 with the same amount of cash on hand.

The former Virginia senator announced his initial long-shot run as a Democrat in July, but like Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley, struggled to gain any traction in a race dominated by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in addition to growing whispers of a run from Vice President Joe Biden.

Webb condemned Clinton’s foreign-policy leadership as secretary of state in a December Facebook post, hinting that he could be the one to take her to task as an independent candidate.

“We have not had a clear statement of national security policy since the end of the Cold War, “ he said Thursday. “And I see no one running for president today who has a firm understanding of the elements necessary to build a national strategy.”

Webb had hired Sam Jones, former national finance director of the Draft Biden movement, to lead his fundraising arm last month, and his campaign had been studying ballot access procedures.

He suspended his campaign in October, telling reporters he wasn’t comfortable with many of the policies from the Democratic hierarchy, but left the door open for an independent bid.

The most memorable moment of his short-lived campaign came during the first Democratic debate, when CNN moderator Anderson Cooper asked the candidates to name the enemy they’re most proud of.

“Probably the enemy soldier that threw a grenade at me,” the Marine veteran responded. “But he’s not around to talk now.”

Former New Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed earlier this week that he is also considering an independent bid. The billionaire media mogul could spend more than$1 billion of his own money should he decide to run. His has said he will make a decision by March.

In an interview with Financial Times, Bloomberg said Americans deserve “a lot better” than the current field of candidates, which includes fellow New York billionaire Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Hillary Clinton and self-described Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, among others.

“I’m listening to what candidates are saying and what the primary voters appear to be doing,” he told the FT.