Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s first campaign manager, is “seriously considering” launching a bid for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, the Republican political operative said Thursday.
“Jeannie Shaheen has failed the people of NH by voting in lock step with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi,” Lewandowski said of New Hampshire’s senior Democrat senator in an interview with The Hill. “The people of NH deserve better. If I run, I would be a voice for all the people of NH.”
Lewandowski was President Trump’s campaign manager until he was relieved of his duties in June 2016, though he has remained a vocal supporter of his former boss. He and Dave Bossie, who served as President Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager, are co-authors of the book Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency.
Lewandowski has also been a staunch surrogate for the president’s agenda on cable television and defended him from claims of racism from his Democrat opponents and the establishment media.
“I have been around President Trump a long time, thousands of hours,” Lewandowski told Fox & Friends last year. “Never have I heard him use a racist word, never have I heard him use a racist phrase.”
New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesperson Josh Marcus-Blank issued a statement in response to news of Lewandowski’s possible Senate bid, smearing him as a “craven lobbyist.”:
Corey Lewandowski is a craven lobbyist who has been credibly accused of assault many times and is chomping at the bit to strip away Granite Staters’ health care. Meanwhile, Senator Shaheen is making a difference for New Hampshire families, leading efforts in the Senate to expand access to health care and taking on the big drug companies to lower the costs of prescription drugs. The contrast couldn’t be more clear.
Lewandowski, who splits his time between New Hampshire and Washington, D.C., would likely find himself in a primary contest against a handful of Republicans who have already launched bids against Shaheen.