McConnell primary challenger open to another run for office

Kentucky may not have seen the last of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) failed primary challenger, businessman Matt Bevin.

{mosads}He’s remained active in Kentucky politics since losing his long-shot bid against the senator in May, and his spokeswoman Sarah Durand did not shut the door on the option when asked by Kentucky news outlet WFPL.

“We’ve been flooded with emails and phone calls from folks asking him to consider running,” she said. “But right now Matt is enjoying the summer with his family, and is focused on his responsibilities to his employees.

“As a small business owner and father of nine children, Matt has no lack of things to keep him busy that don’t involve thinking about a race that’s a year away.”

But an anonymous source close to Bevin said he may have his sights set on the Senate, not the governor’s mansion. The source said he’s contemplating running in 2016, if Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ends up having to choose between running for reelection and for president, and choses the latter.

Bevin would draw much of the same electorate that drove Paul to his own insurgent win over the establishment pick in 2010 — but he’d still face an uphill battle. Despite McConnell’s deep unpopularity with the Kentucky electorate, Bevin’s campaign was dogged by missteps and gaffes, and he ultimately took just 35 percent support to McConnell’s 60 percent.