WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A technical glitch put Republican Scott Walker into the 2016 presidential race prematurely on Friday, days ahead of his official announcement speech.

"Scott is in. Are you? Join our team today," Walker said in a tweet accompanied by an image of him waving with the headline: "Scott Walker is running for president. Join the team."

The tweet was later deleted.

It was unclear why Walker's tweet was inadvertently sent. A Twitter representative said in an emailed statement, "We're looking into today's issue, and we've determined the Walker team was not at fault."

Walker, a two-term governor of Wisconsin, is to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The Walker team responded to the accident by saying, "Stay tuned for Governor Walker's announcement on Monday at 5pm CT."

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Beech)