GOP rep to potential Senate rival: Don’t run
Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), who is eyeing a bid for Senate in 2018, called on his top primary rival and fellow congressman to skip a Senate bid of his own in an interview published Thursday.
Speaking to Brian Howey’s Howey Politics, a major political blog in Indiana, Rokita said that he thinks that it would be smarter for Rep. Luke Messer to stay in Congress and keep advancing through House leadership.
{mosads}”Hopefully Luke doesn’t run because that’s exactly right. … He has a terrific pathway to help the state of Indiana. He could be majority leader, he could be Speaker. That’s not a path I’m on,” Rokita said.
“The way I’m looking at this, how can you best help Indiana? What can you best do? If I’m going to leave a 7-year-old, a 9-year-old and my beautiful, talented wife every week, how can I add the most value?”
Rokita and Messer are considered the top two potential Republican recruits to challenge Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly. Both men have considerable campaign funds ready for a potential bid, so a decision by either to forgo a potentially expensive primary battle would boost the GOP’s chances in the general election.
Messer currently serves as the House GOP policy chairman, a powerful position for a third-term congressman as a part of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) leadership team.
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