Sen. Jeff Flake said Monday he hasn’t ruled out a 2020 primary challenge to President Trump yet, according to an interview with the Concord Monitor.
“It’s not in my plans, but I’ve not ruled it out,” Mr. Flake, Arizona Republican, told the Concord Monitor ahead of his visit to the Granite State.
Mr. Flake made headlines last year when he announced he planned to retire from the Senate, pointing the finger at Mr. Trump, saying that the new political climate doesn’t leave room for moderates. Mr. Flake has since taken to making speeches from the floor of the Senate on the current state of political polarization.
He plans on speaking at “Politics and Eggs,” the longtime series that attracts many presidential contenders, on Friday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. Mr. Flake pitched the speech as his take on the Republican Party and what to do after the Trump era.
“I do think we will get through this. This fever will cool. People will demand a governing party. A party that can govern, that can make use of the majority that it has,” Mr. Flake said to the newspaper referring to his party.
Mr. Flake is not the only Republican to mull a possible challenge to the president. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has also floated the idea. He has already made plans to deliver a speech in Henniker, New Hampshire, in April.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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