SALT LAKE CITY — Former Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh said Thursday that he is mulling over a 2020 presidential run, saying he is “strongly, strongly considering” in an interview with CNN.
Walsh would run as a Republican primary challenger to Trump.
“I’m strongly, strongly considering it. That’s — again, I’m not trying to be cute or coy. I’ve told you before — if somebody’s going to get in there and go after him ... it’s got to be done soon,” Walsh said on CNN. “You’re running out of time. But more importantly, these are not conventional times. Look at the guy in the White House. These are urgent times.”
He said his decision will come soon.
“Labor Day’s in what — a week. If you want to get in, you’ve got to get in within the next week or so,” he said.
Walsh, now a conservative radio host, told CNN that he voted for Trump in 2016 because he didn’t want to vote for Hillary Clinton. Walsh said his support for Trump changed significantly after Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, last year.
But Walsh is far from the only potential challenger to Trump, at least in the eyes of Trump critics. Anthony Scaramucci is trying to find some GOP challenger, after all. The Washington Post reported that Trump critics are looking at other politicians like former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Kasich said he’s visiting New Hampshire next month where he will “take a look at things,” according to The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Romney “is privately held by many anti-Trump activists and donors as their preferred standard-bearer, even though they do not expect him to run,” according to The Washington Post. Romney said in a speech in Salt Lake City earlier this week that he considers himself a “renegade Republican,” per the Deseret News’ Dennis Romboy.
And Flake has reportedly “taken a flurry of recruitment calls in recent days from GOP donors rattled by signs of an economic slowdown and hungry for an alternative to Trump,” according to The Washington Post.
But Flake dismissed running for president in an exclusive interview with the Deseret News. He said he was unsure
“I’ve not ruled that out. But like I said, I want to let the fever cool. I’m not rushing into anything. And if I never ran for office again, 18 years in Congress is a good run,” Flake said.
But Flake said he didn’t expect Trump to win in 2020.
“I don’t think the president will be reelected. Many of us thought, I certainly did, that he wouldn’t be elected the first time. So it could happen. But if it does, I think that spells doom long-term for the Republican Party,” he said.