Chelsea Manning files to run for Senate in Maryland
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier who was convicted of giving classified information to WikiLeaks, has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission for a U.S. Senate bid in Maryland.
According to an FEC statement of candidacy form dated Thursday, Manning has filed to run as Democrat in the 2018 midterm elections, challenging incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland. The paperwork, according to the form, was hand-delivered to the U.S. Senate.
Manning was released from a Kansas military prison last year, after serving seven years of the 35-year sentence she was given. Former President Barack Obama granted her clemency shortly before leaving the presidency. Manning, originally from Oklahoma, moved to Maryland after her release.
Manning, whose name was formerly Bradley Manning, was convicted of 20 counts, including six violations of the Espionage Act. Manning's critics, of whom there are many, claim she divulged some of the country's most sensitive information and endangered sources, forcing the State Department to scramble to protect some of its assets. Several ambassadors were recalled or expelled as a result of the information she leaked.
Cardin, the incumbent senator Manning is challenging, has been a U.S. senator since 2006. Maryland is considered a safely Democratic state for this year's Senate race.
Manning has not made any announcements on social media or elsewhere about a Senate bid.
— CBS News' Fiona Glisson and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report