Barely 24 hours after retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., hinted he might change his mind and run for re-election, conservative Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., made it clear to Newsmax she was in the Republican Senate primary to stay.
"If someone doesn't think Marsha Blackburn can't win the Senate seat, he's just a plain, sexist pig," Blackburn spokeswoman Andrea Bozek told us Tuesday afternoon.
Bozek pointed to the congresswoman's record as the top fundraiser of any Republican running for the Senate in 2018. In addition, she cited the fact eight-term Rep. Blackburn was the first Senate candidate in the nation to receive an endorsement from Vice President Mike Pence.
Over the weekend, a spokesman for Corker said he was "listening" to voters in the Volunteer State to decide whether to reconsider his decision to step down from the seat he has held since 2006. Several sources close to the senator said his "listening tour" was the result of his concern Blackburn would lose to certain Democratic opponents and former two-term Gov. Phil Bredesen.
However, an internal poll released in December by the Committee to Defend the President, a political action committee aligned with President Trump, found Blackburn ahead of Bredesen 43 percent to 34 percent.
"Marsha Blackburn is in a pretty strong position for a candidate who has never run statewide before," Bozek said. "The only people who question whether she can win are ego-driven, tired, old men who have doubted her throughout her career."
When Newsmax asked the White House about its feelings on Corker possibly reversing his decision to retire, press secretary Sarah Sanders told us: "We haven't had that conversation about Sen. Corker's plans. But as always, I can't weigh in on any specifics of the potential of a race. But I would have to talk to the president before making any comment."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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