Hillary Clinton to Announce Presidential Run as Soon as This Weekend

Former Secretary of State faces scant competition so far for the Democratic nomination.

Hillary Clinton will end years of speculation about her political ambitions and formally announce she is running for president as early as this weekend, people familiar with the matter said Thursday.

In recent months, Mrs. Clinton has been quietly assembling a campaign staff. Her team recently signed a lease for office space in Brooklyn that is expected to be her campaign headquarters.

Although her candidacy has seemed a sure thing, Mrs. Clinton, 67 years old, has long said that she hadn’t completely made up her mind about running. Any doubts now seem to have evaporated.

It will be her second try at the presidency. She lost the nomination to then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008. She went on to endorse him and was his surprise pick for secretary of state. She left that office in early 2013, and speculation about her intentions has intensified since then.

So far, Mrs. Clinton faces scant competition for the Democratic nomination. Polls barely register former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley or former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb. One potential heavyweight—Vice President Joe Biden—has said he is considering a campaign but has taken few apparent steps to prepare for one.

On Thursday, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee surprisingly joined the field, and offered a biting critique from the left of Mrs. Clinton’s record on foreign policy. “The biggest question will be: What exactly did you accomplish in your four years as secretary of state?’” he said in an interview. “There was a lot of dust in the air. Not many concrete accomplishments.”

One of Mrs. Clinton’s central challenges will be showing voters she is willing to work hard for a Democratic nomination that appears to be hers to lose.

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