Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he won’t run for Senate in 2024
Emily Jacobs
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Former Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) will not run for the Senate seat held by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) in 2024, he said Monday.
Walker, a former two-term Republican governor, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview that he plans to stay in his role as chairman of Young America’s Foundation, a conservative organization aimed at students and young adults. He has a contract with YAF that goes through 2025. Despite turning down a Senate run, the former governor said he was still open to a future presidential bid, just not in this cycle.
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“Plus, I don’t see myself in the Senate,” Walker said. “After getting so much done as governor, I would be bored as senator.”
Asked last Tuesday by the New York Times about his presidential aspirations, Walker replied, “I’m a quarter-century younger than Joe Biden, so I’ve got plenty of time. But not in ’24.”
Walker lost his 2018 bid for a third term to Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI).
The Republican is not the first governor to turn down a Senate bid out of disinterest in operating as a legislator rather than a chief executive. Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), who also has presidential aspirations, declined to challenge incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) in 2022 but is still considering 2024 and 2028 White House bids.
“The U.S. Senate is the B team compared to governors,” Sununu told Rolling Stone last October. “Can you honestly tell me if we got rid of every U.S. senator and replaced them with 100 randomly chosen, employed, American adults that it would get worse?”
He added, “It’s just a bubble, and you’re talking to your own echo chambers, convincing yourself of this nonreality.”
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Baldwin has yet to announce whether she will seek a third term in office, and thus far, no Republicans have entered the race. Walker was the most prominent name in the prospective GOP field, making his decision not to run a loss for Senate Republican leaders as they work to recruit electable candidates for the 2024 cycle.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s Senate campaign arm, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) only need to net two seats to win back the Senate in 2024.