Corey Lewandowski drops potential Senate run in New Hampshire

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski will not run for Senate in New Hampshire after considering a potential campaign earlier this year, he announced Tuesday.

“After much consideration I have decided to forgo a campaign for the US Senate,” he tweeted. “While taking on a career politician from the Washington swamp is a tall order, I am certain I would have won. My priorities remain my family and ensuring that @realDonaldTrump is re-elected POTUS.”

Lewandowski, who served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager until he was fired in summer 2016 and was considered to lead the White House impeachment team in September, was reportedly mulling a run against New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2020. He said Tuesday that he was “humbled by the outpouring of support” he received in New Hampshire and that he would endorse a candidate in the Republican primary in hopes of beating Shaheen.

He had been huddling with New Hampshire political operatives and confidants this summer — joined in some meetings by his wife — as he mulled a potential Senate bid in the Granite State, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN at the time. He also appeared to have his former boss’s blessing, a voice that could help sway Republican primary voters, just before Lewandowski appeared at a campaign rally in New Hampshire with Trump earlier this year.

“I think he would be fantastic,” the President said of his former campaign manager in a radio interview ahead of the rally. “I don’t think he’s made that decision yet. I will say this — if he ran, he would be a great senator. If he ran and won, he’d be a great senator. He would be great for New Hampshire. He would be great for the country.”

New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesman Josh Marcus-Blank highlighted Lewandowski’s ties to Trump compared to Shaheen’s healthcare agenda in a statement Tuesday.

“Every Republican running for Senate in New Hampshire has stood proudly with Corey Lewandowski and Donald Trump in their efforts to take away health care from tens of thousands of Granite Staters,” he said. He added that while the remaining candidates “tear each other down in the contentious primary Lewandowski has left behind, Senator Shaheen will continue working across the aisle for New Hampshire.”

A Lewandowski Senate run could have been mired by controversies past, as the former Trump campaign manager made several headlines of his own. Lewandowski was charged with battery after he grabbed a female reporter who was attempting to question Trump after a news conference during the 2016 campaign, though the charges were later dropped.

Lewandowski featured prominently in the investigatory report by special counsel Robert Mueller, which reveals that Trump directed Lewandowski to direct then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to publicly disparage the investigation — though Lewandowski never did.

He also said during congressional testimony in September that he has “no obligation” to tell the truth to the media, while acknowledging that he had not told the truth when asked earlier this year about his interactions with Trump.