Bob Corker may reconsider retirement, setting up Republican battle in Tennessee
Republican Sen. Bob Corker announced his retirement in the midst of a feud with Donald Trump, and now his retirement is setting up another fight among Republicans. With a poll showing potential trouble for Republicans in the race to replace Corker:
… a faction of Republicans in Tennessee and Washington are worried that the favorite for the Republican Senate nomination, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), could lose the general election — and with it the Senate majority.
They want Corker to get back in to hold the seat and preserve waning foreign policy experience in the GOP. And there are signs that he is open to it, despite the steep climb a Republican primary might entail.
“Corker himself said on Monday he had no comment on the race,” Politico reports, which is interesting since you’d expect him to reiterate that he was retiring. If Corker got back into the race, he’d face a bruising primary:
“The message that I’d want to give to the folks trying to entice Corker into running: You shouldn’t do it, he’s gonna lose,” said Club [for Growth] President David McIntosh. “It would be a sad way for him to end his career to end up being defeated. We will continue to support Marsha.”
Does Corker want to be in an intermittent fight with Donald Trump and a primary fight for his own seat? But at the same time, it’s no surprise that a poll showing a sitting House member losing a very red state would make Republicans nervous. So sad.
