John Kennedy Says He May Run for President

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana says he is considering a run for president in 2028 — the latest member of the GOP who is not deterred by Vice President JD Vance’s ambitions. Mr. Kennedy says he will run if he believes he can do a better job as president than any of the “goobers” who may seek the GOP nomination. Mr. Kennedy is one of the most in-demand surrogates of the 2026 cycle, traveling to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nebraska, and Kansas to help elect Republicans. Last year, he published a bestselling book, “How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will,” which sold around half-a-million copies. During an appearance on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Kennedy plainly said that he is thinking about a run for the Oval Office.“Yeah,” the second-term senator said when asked if he was considering a 2028 bid. He followed Rahm Emanuel — a former Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff, and congressman — on the program, who also said he was thinking about running on the Democratic side. “First, let me correct Rahm — Rahm’s running for president. If you don’t believe that you’ll never own your own home,” Mr. Kennedy said with a smile. Mr. Kennedy, elected to the Senate in 2016, is up for a third Senate term in 2028, though he says he is not one hundred percent sure which office he will seek two years from now. “My plans right now are to run for re-election, but as I’ve said before, if I don’t think I can be effective in the Senate anymore, I would consider” a presidential run, he said. He quoted the song from Naomi and Wynonna Judd: “Why not me on a rainy day?”“But I haven’t made a decision,” Mr. Kenedy said. “On my side of the aisle, if a bunch of goobers run and I think they’re goobers and one of the goobers might win and I think I can do a better job, I would consider running. But, right now, I’m running for re-election.”“I think it’ll be good for both parties,” he said of large primary fields for both Democrats and Republicans. Mr. Vance has unsurprisingly dominated in the early polling for the 2028 field. According to aggregates, Mr. Vance leads his closest competitor, Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who has pushed back on the idea that he will run in 2028 — by around 20 points. The last time a sitting vice president sought a presidential nomination and lost was more than seven decades ago, in 1952. Mr. Vance has declined to comment on his 2028 plans, but he did take a shot at another potential candidate last week. Senator Ted Cruz has criticized the administration on trade issues and on the FCC’s role in threatening outlets that are deemed too anti-Trump. Mr. Cruz recently said on a podcast over the summer that it is “no secret” that he would like to be president. During a book tour touting his biography of Justice Clarence Thomas, Mr. Cruz again declined to yank his name from the 2028 conversation, telling CNN that he will be “part of the discussion” about what the GOP should look like after the midterms. Mr. Vance, in turn, accused Mr. Cruz of putting his own political ambition ahead of the needs of the Republican Party. “It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Mr. Vance said in an interview with NBC News. “At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans. That’s what I’m going to keep on doing.”Mr. Cruz then shot back at the vice president, accusing him of being “insecure.”“In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they’re feeling insecure,” Mr. Cruz told Politico in an interview on Saturday.

John Kennedy Says He May Run for President

John Kennedy Says He May Run for President

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