Former Senator Rick Santorum will formally announce his presidential candidacy on June 6 in western Pennsylvania, according to a source close to his campaign.
The announcement will take place “near where his grandfather worked in the coal mines after he came here from Italy,” said the source. “This location is significant because when Sen. Santorum’s grandfather left fascist Italy, he came to this country for America’s freedom and the opportunity our nation afforded him.”
An aide informed the Daily Caller on May 24 Santorum would run the week of June 5.
Since leaving office in 2006, Santorum has courted conservative groups and think tanks, hired veteran staffers, and campaigned extensively in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire to prepare for his run. He hopes to fill the social conservatism vacuum left when Mike Huckabee, the 2008 Iowa caucus winner, declined to run for President in 2012.
Santorum will participate in the New Hampshire GOP debate on June 13.