Charles Booker Weighing Up 2022 Senate Run Against Rand Paul

Former Kentucky state representative Charles Booker is considering a run for the U.S. Senate in 2022.

Booker ran to be the Democratic candidate against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in 2020.

However, Amy McGrath narrowly defeated Booker to win that primary. McConnell defeated McGrath in the election, retaining his place in the Senate for another six years.

Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul will be up for re-election in 2022 and Booker said on Sunday he is weighing up a run for a place in the upper chamber.

“I’m strongly considering a run for United States Senate in 2022, because I believe our work is not done and we have the ability to tell a new story for Kentucky,” Booker told Kentucky Educational Television.

“And I want to do my part in that.

“So I’m excited about what’s ahead for us, and I’m giving due consideration to our ability to transform our future in the upcoming year.”

Booker said he was doing “due diligence” and research over this.

He added the interests of his family would be a consideration in his decision. “We’ll be making a decision really soon,” he said.

Booker also ruled out a run for Louisville mayor as he outlined potential future political plans.

Upon his defeat in the primary last year, Booker spoke of people in Kentucky being “hungry for a new kind of leadership, one that puts working people and their struggles before corporate special interests and the corrupt politicians who serve them.”

Paul said last month that he will run again in 2022.

He was first elected to the Senate in 2010.

Paul has supported a potential two-term limit for senators, though said he is not in favor of “people self-imposing term limits,” when discussing running again. He will be running for a third term.

“I am a fan of term limits. It would take a constitutional amendment and the term limits would then be for everyone. But I’m not in favor of term limits for some and not others. So I’m not in favor of people self-imposing term limits. I’m a co-sponsor of the constitutional amendment, but I will run again in 2022,” he told WBKO in February.

There will be 34 Senate seats up for a vote in 2022, along with every seat in the House of Representatives.

There will again be intense focus on the Senate. The upper chamber is split 50-50 with the Democrats holding a majority due to Vice President Kamala Harris‘ power to cast tie-breaking votes.

With this majority being razor-thin, Republicans will be looking to regain control after losing it in 2020.

Newsweek has contacted Booker and Paul’s office for comment.