An Arkansas Lawmaker Is Already Nudging Sen. Cotton To Run For President

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 8: Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., heads to the Senate subway following a vote in the Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

An Arkansas lawmaker already has Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) prospects in 2020 on his mind. State Sen. Bart Hester (R) introduced legislation that would let candidates appear on the ballot simultaneously as House or Senate candidates and presidential candidates as well.

Hester specifically mentioned Cotton when discussing the bill.

“Tom Cotton would be my current idea of someone who should be afforded this opportunity,” Hester said, according to the Associated Press. “Politics, if I’ve learned anything, it changes every day and there could be the great next hope show up tomorrow. But I don’t think it’s reasonable to say I wouldn’t be looking at Tom Cotton to have that opportunity.”

No other politician, including Cotton, urged Hester to propose the legislation, Hester said.

“He didn’t wave me off, but certainly didn’t say ‘go pass this bill,'” Hester said.

Cotton’s name has been mentioned as a possible leader of the Republican Party some day, but he’s only in his third month as a senator.

Cotton has been making headlines for crafting a letter signed by 47 Senate Republicans meant to undermine the Obama administration’s negotiations to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) recently won the support of state Republican party leaders to allow him to run for president and re-election at the same time. Kentucky state law bars a candidate from appearing twice on the same ballot, but if the Kentucky Republican Party’s central committee signs off on Paul’s proposal in August, he can run for president and re-election in 2016.

49
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Run Cotton Run! We need more people who know nothing about the world to run for President. Maybe the Dems will have the spine to call him a traitor to his face.

  2. An other wonderful idea from Arkansas! (The other one was “chicken and waffles”, btw.)

  3. Avatar for pine pine says:

    Build him high as the sky,so we can watch the tumble.

  4. The guy unwitting reveals he does not understand the inner workings of the US government, and you want him to run for president?

    The Republican party in a nutshell.

  5. Dave, I love chicken and waffles! Love them with gravy! Love them with syrup! Love them with both!! But I do not love Tom Cotton.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

43 more replies

Participants

Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for mschumm Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for artemisia Avatar for sundancer Avatar for eggrollian Avatar for navamske Avatar for boscobrown Avatar for goner Avatar for callmeeric Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for pmm080 Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for ottnott Avatar for barblzz Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for indyundecided Avatar for benthere Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for emilianoelmexicano Avatar for meta Avatar for wtf1 Avatar for caltg

Continue Discussion