Jon Porter
Former Republican Rep.
Jon Porter has now silenced any lingering speculation that he might challenge Nevada Sen.
Harry Reid in 2010. Asked flat out if he was considering running for Senate against the Majority Leader, Porter replied Thursday with a flat-out "No."
Porter, who lost his 3rd District House seat in a tight 2008 race against Democrat Dina Titus, has been touted off and on as a top Republican prospect to take on Reid, whose has shaky approval ratings back home.
But many political observers crossed him off the list of potential challengers when he joined the government affairs practice of the law firm Akerman Senterfitt. Porter is serving in an advisory role as director of public policy for the firm; he is barred from lobbying his former colleagues on legislative matters for one year under congressional ethics rules.
Porter told CQ in March that he had been approached by some fellow Republicans about running in 2010, either against Reid; in the governor's race for the seat held by first-term Republican Jim Gibbons, who has poor job approval ratings; or for his old House seat. And he said that despite taking the government affairs job, he was not ruling out re-entering the political fray at some point.
What he is ruling out now is a shot at the Senate in 2010.
A top tier Republican challenger to Reid has yet to emerge. The biggest name still circulating is second-term Rep. Dean Heller, who represents Nevada's 2nd District and sits on the House's powerful Ways and Means Committee.
(Hat tip to my colleague Jonathan Allen)
To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.
![[RSS]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/rss_icon.gif){kind=icon}
![[ARCHIVES]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/archives_icon.png){kind=icon}
Post A Comment