Senator Bob Corker made headlines last October when he became the first GOP senator to announce he would not seek reelection in 2018—then quickly ignited a public spat with President Donald Trump, with the two trading barbs on Twitter. Over a period of weeks, Corker called the Trump White House “an adult day care center,” said Trump had “proven himself unable to rise to the occasion” of being president, and said there was “no way” he could support him again. Meanwhile, Trump (incorrectly) savaged Corker as an enabler of President Obama’s Iran deal, and jeered that he “couldn’t get elected dog catcher.”
Which makes the news that Corker is apparently considering hopping back into the race pretty awkward for everyone involved.
CNN reported Sunday that Corker had been talking privately with colleagues about whether he should reconsider his decision and run for Senate again in 2018. The news comes amid reports that some Tennessee Republicans are privately fretting that the GOP frontrunner in the race to replace him, congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, could lose in the general election, which would imperil the razor-thin Republican Senate majority.
An adviser to Corker downplayed the rumors Sunday, saying Corker was still planning to retire.
“It is true that Senator Corker has been encouraged by people across Tennessee and in the Senate to reconsider his decision, but at this point nothing has changed,” the adviser said in a statement.
Whether or not Corker runs again, the speculation highlights the uneasy peace that has settled over the Republican party over the past few months after a tempestuous 2017. Corker was far from the only GOP lawmaker Trump picked a public fight with during his first year in office, although he was one of the only ones who punched back. But Republicans seemed to reach a ceasefire in the closing months of last year during their effort to pass tax reform. Corker baldly refused to discuss his earlier shots at Trump then, and he ended up voting for the package.
But an armistice between the White House and a retiring senator is a long shot from a peace deal with one who’s running for reelection. The White House did not respond to a question about whether Trump would like to see Corker on the ballot in 2018.
