Flake: ‘I don’t think’ I will be 2020 challenger to Trump

Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that he doesn’t think he will run for president in 2020, but added that he believes somebody from the GOP needs to challenge President Trump.

Flake, a frequent Trump critic, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that somebody needs to run “to remind Republicans what it means to be conservative, what being a conservative really means and what it means to be decent.”

{mosads}”I think the future of the party is with people with an optimistic vision moving ahead. I don’t think that will be me. I think there are better candidates out there. But somebody needs to run,” he added.

“I don’t think that will be me,” Sen. Jeff Flake says when asked whether he will challenge President Trump in 2020. “I’ve said all along that somebody needs to run on the Republican side, if nothing else to remind Republicans what it means to be conservative.” pic.twitter.com/6HfDBNctlh

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) November 18, 2018

Flake said he would “love to see” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) be that candidate. He also mentioned Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) as a potential primary candidate.

“I think there will be somebody. There needs to be somebody,” he said.

Flake previously has left open the door for running for the presidency himself in 2020, telling reporters earlier this month that he hadn’t “ruled it out” and hadn’t “ruled it in.”