Deval Patrick, the former two-term governor of Massachusetts, is being nudged to run for president by some in former President Barack Obama's inner circle, Politico reported Tuesday.
Former Obama strategist David Axelrod told Politico that he had approached Patrick about running while Obama's longtime advisor Valerie Jarrett told the publication that her "heart desires" a "President Patrick."
"I'm trying to think about how to be helpful, because I care about the country, and I'm a patriot first," Patrick told Politico's podcast Off Message. "It's way, way too soon to be making plans for 2020. So I'll just leave it at that."
Patrick, a personal friend of Obama, is currently running a new social good private equity fund, which has raised $390 million for investments in small- and medium-size companies at Bain Capital, Politico reported.
Axerod told Politico that Patrick fits several categories of what he thinks voters look for in a president.
"He's kind of a natural to look at because he was a successful governor, he is an inspiring guy, and you have to ask yourself what is the country going to be looking for in their next president after this guy?" Axelrod told Politico.
The knocks against Patrick when he left office in 2015 included legalizing casinos to the disappointment of his supporters, while he was besieged by management problems in health care, child welfare, and unemployment benefits, the Boston Globe reported.
"He was absolutely phenomenal in terms of the broad themes," Democratic Massachusetts State Rep. David Linsky told the Globe in 2015. "When I think about where the commonwealth was eight years ago and where it is now, we’re in great shape in a lot of ways. The failings were in the nitty-gritty of running the state. The problem has been in the basic administration of government."
Before entering politics, Patrick worked as an attorney and business executive, making partner at two Boston law firms and senior executive positions at Texaco and Coca-Cola, according to his website. President Bill Clinton tapped him assistant attorney general for civil rights in 1994.