A former official with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign said Thursday that she should put an end to recent speculation over another potential White House bid.
“I was on the Hillary campaign in 2016, so I have a lot of respect for her, but she has to put this to bed,” Michael Starr Hopkins, a founding partner at Northern Starr Strategies, told Hill.TV.
“The idea that she’s going to run for president or even dipping her toe into it — it’s not helpful to the Democratic Party,” continued Hopkins, who served as deputy state director of voter protection for Clinton’s team in Colorado. He added that a potential rematch between Clinton and President Trump would be a “nightmare.”
Hopkins’s comments come amid speculation that the former secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee could be mulling another run for office next year.
Most of this speculation appears to be coming from Republicans, including some of Trump’s closest allies such as former White House adviser Steve Bannon.
“They’ll throw [former Vice President Joe] Biden away to get to Trump and hope Elizabeth Warren or I even think Hillary Clinton or [former New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg or some centrist comes in here,” Bannon told Fox Business earlier this month, pointing to Clinton’s slew of media appearances to promote a book she co-authored with daughter Chelsea Clinton.
Some of Clinton’s long-time advisers have maintained that there is no truth to the rumors.
“It’s Bannon-created,” said Philippe Reines, Clinton’s longtime communications adviser. “What his ratio is between honest belief and troublemaking is hard to know. Obviously though, he doesn’t have any sources.”
According to The New York Times, however, both Clinton and Bloomberg have privately told people in recent weeks that they would join the Democratic primary “if they thought they could win.”
Clinton has yet to squash these rumors about a potential 2020 candidacy herself, quipping during a “PBS NewsHour” earlier this month that “maybe there does need to be a rematch” with Trump.
After losing the 2016 election, Clinton has continued to play a central role in the Democratic Party, often serving as a sounding board for several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
—Tess Bonn
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