Senate races

Tea Party’s Rob Maness will run for Vitter’s Senate seat

by Ben Kamisar 12/08/15 05:45 PM ET

Col. Rob Maness, the Tea Party challenger in the 2014 Louisiana Senate race, will mount another Senate bid in 2016.

Maness declared his intention to fill retiring Republican Sen. David Vitter’s seat in a new filing with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday that lists him as a candidate for the upcoming race. Politico first reported the filing.

{mosads}His campaign account has just $27 left in it as September, the most recent FEC filing date for campaigns. But Maness has fundraised for the GatorPAC super-PAC that will almost assuredly aid his bid—that group had $14,000 left in the bank through June, the last time super-PACs had to report donations.

Maness will once again run against sitting lawmakers—he fought against then Congressman and future Sen. Bill Cassidy for Republican support in the open primary in 2014. Rep. John Fleming (R) officially announced his bid on Monday, while Rep. Charles Boustany (R) has already signaled that he’s in too.

More Republicans could enter the field and Democrats are still looking for the party’s first candidate in the open primary, where the top two candidates from either party move onto a runoff election.

The Senate Conservatives Fund backed Maness’ bid in 2014 but a spokeswoman didn’t say whether the group would endorse him again.

“We are going to watch the race to see which candidate is the strongest conservative, who has the backing of the grassroots, and who is running a winning campaign,” she said.

“Our members in Louisiana are tired of the Republican establishment, which has hijacked the Republican Party and betrayed its principles. They want an outsider that they can trust to stand up to the liberals in both parties.”