Gov. Scott Walker is preparing to run for president in 2016 by hiring an experienced GOP operative and giving him the green light to build a foundation for a White House bid.
The Wisconsin Republican was re-elected to a second term this past November and has pledged to focus on his job as governor through the first half of 2015.
But he said in an interview this week that any “serious” candidate for the Republican presidential nomination has to join the race by the middle of this year. Although Walker stopped short of declaring his candidacy, he sounded like a politician who has decided to run.
“I very much believe that our next president should be a governor. And I think you look at the mess in Washington, and you realize we need leaders from outside of our nation’s capital, and we need people who have been successful,” Walker told talk radio host and Washington Examiner columnist Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday.
Walker added: “I think with what I’ve had to go through in the last four years, both politically, but also in terms of the policies, certainly I feel that there’s a reason God put me in a spot to do the things that we’ve done and take on the kind of challenges we’ve done. And it’s certainly something I’m going to take seriously, and really look at it closely over the next month or two.”
He has garnered accolades in conservative circles for advancing limited government policies in liberal-leaning Wisconsin, including legislation that curtailed the power of public employee unions. Establishment Republicans like his gubernatorial experience and his ability to win elections in a state that regularly votes Democratic for president and U.S. Senate. In addition to his two gubernatorial victories in 2010 and 2014, Walker survived a contentious recall campaign in 2012.
Rick Wiley, an experienced operative who was the Republican National Committee political director during the 2012 election cycle, played an integral role in helping Walker win his recall race. Walker is expected to launch a new political organization of that will serve as the launch pad for the presidential campaign, and Wiley is now in the process of interviewing political operatives. A GOP operative who keeps tabs on Walker said it’s possible the governor’s new political organization could take the form of a super PAC because that would allow it to raise more money than a political action committee.
CNN first reported the news of Walker’s new organization and Wiley’s hiring. Sources familiar with Walker’s planning confirmed the information to the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has moved aggressively in recent weeks to build his own political operation that is expected to serve as the base for a campaign, although he, like Walker, has officially refrained from announcing his candidacy. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran in 2008, is also making moves toward a White House run, going so far as to end his weekly show on Fox News so that he can focus on politics.
Some political observers believe Bush’s candidacy could make it difficult for other former and sitting governors to win the GOP primary. The Bush family network of political operatives and campaign contributors are legion, and many are loyal to Jeb Bush because of their relationship with his father and brother, former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
But Walker and his supporters are undaunted.
“I think this is going to be a very competitive primary with a strong group of very qualified candidates,” said a major Republican donor who thinks highly of Walker. “All of these guys think they can win and nobody is going to be dissuaded because Jeb Bush jumps in. I don’t see Walker pulling back.”
