Twitter Accidentally Made Scott Walker a Presidential Candidate Ahead of Schedule

Walker was set to announce his campaign Monday.

ByABC News
July 11, 2015, 1:18 PM
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Jan. 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Jan. 24, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

— -- For a brief time on Friday, Scott Walker became a presidential candidate -- by accident and three days ahead of schedule.

It all started with a tweet from Walker's verified Twitter account that read: "Scott is in. Are you? Join our team today" along with a photo of the Wisconsin governor with the following unmistakable message: "SCOTT WALKER IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT."

The only problem: Walker's team didn't send the tweet. And it was soon deleted from his feed.

Twitter is now coming forward to clear Walker's team of any fault and investigating how the tweet was posted in error.

"We're looking into today's issue, and we've determined the Walker team was not at fault," a spokesman for Twitter said in a statement Friday night.

Walker's press secretary AshLee Strong told ABC News in a statement, "We're happy Twitter confirmed this wasn't Team Walker's post and are investigating what happened."

Walker is not expected to officially declare his candidacy -- on purpose -- until Monday evening in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the same place where the Wisconsin governor declared victory following a recall election in 2012.

Soon after the tweet was deleted on Friday, the Walker campaign was steering clear of the errant tweet entirely.

"Stay tuned for Governor Walker's announcement on Monday," Strong told ABC News.

The accidental tweet aside, Walker's team has been making an active push on social media to build interest in Walker's coming announcement, with a social media strategy that included releasing his logo in nine separate pieces over nine days on Instagram.

Walker is not the only presidential hopeful whose candidacy was accidentally stated ahead of his official announcement. Jeb Bush made a slip on his own, saying that he was running for president during a non-campaign event more than a month before he launched his official campaign.