Bullock: Running for Senate ‘never really got me excited’

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D), who officially launched his presidential campaign this week, said he was never going to run for the Senate despite the hopes of some Democratic officials who wanted him to try to unseat Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in 2020.

“I was never going to run for the Senate, and I do think that I have both the skills and abilities as an executive to bridge some divides,” Bullock said on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday evening.

{mosads}“I have great respect for the senators, but this is something that never really got me excited.”

Bullock’s declining of a Senate bid marks only one in a string of recruitment struggles by Senate Democrats and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

Democrats have been unable to get their top-choice candidates to run in Senate races in Colorado, Texas and Georgia, with former Gov. John Hickenlooper (Colo.) and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas) opting instead, like Bullock, to make White House bids, while former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams is considering a presidential campaign of her own. 

Rep. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa), who flipped a swing district last year and had been touted as a possible challenger to Sen. Joni Ernst (R), has said she will run for reelection in the House next year. 

Democrats have reportedly continued to press Bullock to abandon his White House run and instead launch a Senate bid, saying he could make a nearly unwinnable race for a Democrat a toss-up.

“I wish he would have run for the Senate,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told Politico, adding that a Bullock bid would “change the game.”

“Sure, you’d rather have Beto [O‘Rourke] in the [Texas Senate] race. But it doesn’t go from solid red to toss-up instantly. This is the one that would change the game.”

Democrats are hoping to gain a handful of Senate seats next year to overcome Republicans’ 53-47 majority in the Upper Chamber. However, while Republicans are defending more seats than Democrats, only two GOP seats up for grabs are in states Hillary Clinton won in 2016.