Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) is thinking of challenging Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) in the 2016 Republican primary for Senate.
“I have not ruled anything out,” the 2012 nominee said, according to The Hill on Wednesday. “I think there is a high level of dissatisfaction among conservatives, that they have to some degree been pushed out of the Republican Party. The sentiment is there. The Tea Party is skeptical and wants some fresh blood, not just the same establishment guys.”
A day earlier The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Akin was considering running for Senate.
“Roy has burned a lot of bridges with a lot of conservatives in the state,” Akin told the Missouri newspaper. “Anything is a possibility.”
Akin was the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri in 2012 whose candidacy sank after he told a local St. Louis TV station that rape was unlikely to lead to pregnancy. “If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down,” Akin said in what became a iconic line from that election cycle.
Akin, as a result, lost most of his official GOP support, which in the end helped the embattled Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) win re-election.
Akin told The Hill that if he does run again he would push his party away from focusing on economic issues and toward social issues like abortion.
“I think [Blunt’s] support among conservatives is weak,” Akin said. “His biggest liability is a third party conservative getting in the race. If I were in Roy’s shoes, that’s what I’d be worried about.”
Blunt’s re-election campaign declined to comment on Akin.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Jason Kander recently announced his candidacy for Senate.
This story has been updated.
