Conservative talk-show host Larry Kudlow declared for the first time on Saturday that he would run against Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal next year if he supported the Iran nuclear deal.
"I'm going to run against him," the renowned economist and columnist said in an interview with Illinois GOP Rep. Peter Roskam on
Kudlow's radio show. "I'm going to run against him for Senate." (The declaration begins at the 26:50 mark.)
Blumenthal, 70, a first-term senator who has supported economic sanctions against Tehran, is among five influential Democratic senators President Barack Obama needs to keep Congress from blocking the agreement with Tehran.
The lifting of crippling restrictions under the deal could send as much as $150 billion into Iran.
Congress is expected to vote on the agreement after returning from recess next month. Fourteen Democratic senators remain undecided.
Roskam, a five-term congressman representing suburban Chicago, has long railed against the accord. He has initiated legislation, co-sponsored by 225 other House members, rejecting the pact.
Kudlow has been among several Republicans rumored as possible challengers to Blumenthal next year.
He told Roskam on Saturday that the National Senate Campaign Committee "has come to me, talked to me about it. They polled."
Declaring that "I'm not a political guy," Kudlow said that he would oppose the Democrat because "I am so angry at this issue.
"The Iranian thing is more important. We're talking about world security, national security. They're coming to get us, and Iran will finance them. They're going to finance them. They are coming to get us.
"This is a big thing," Kudlow added. "Folks have to stand up everywhere and run."
He described it as a "citizen's movement: Run against people who support this terrible Iranian deal. This is a citizens' militia movement."
To Kudlow's pledge, Roskam said: "Well, Larry, if you're in, I'm in for you."
"This is not just a little foreign policy issue," Kudlow said. "This is a global, huge, massive, national security issue.
"This is a worldwide terrorist threat, national security threat," he added. "It is completely like Communism was 50 years ago.
"You give Iran this $150 billion, katy bar the door."
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