Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tells donors he won’t run for Senate

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has put what Republicans see as a final kibosh on any chances he would challenge Sen. Mark Kelly (D) later this year, ending a long-running courtship by top Washington Republicans who saw him as their best hope of winning back the seat.

In a letter to donors, Ducey said this year, the last of his eight years in the governor’s office, would be the end of his public service career.

“When asked about a potential run for the U.S. Senate in January 2021, I gave a simple answer: ‘No.’ In the intervening months a number of people have asked me to reconsider. I’m honored by the confidence and interest you’ve shown in my public career,” Ducey wrote to his top financial contributors. But he added: “My mind hasn’t changed.”

“If you’re going to run for public office, you have to really want the job,” Ducey wrote. “Right now I have the job I want, and my intention is to close my years of service to Arizona with a very productive final legislation session AND to help elect Republican governors across the country in my role as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.”

The letter, obtained by The Hill, was first reported by the Arizona Republic.

Ducey, 57, was the chief executive of Cold Stone Creamery before running for public office for the first time in 2010. He served a single term as state treasurer before running for and winning the governorship in 2014. He won reelection in 2018 by a 14-point margin.

For more than a year, top Senate Republicans have encourage Ducey to challenge Kelly, who won election to fill the remainder of the term left vacant by the death of Sen. John McCain (R). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had openly courted Ducey to run, even as the governor told anyone who would ask that he had little interest in the job.

A source with knowledge of the situation told The Hill that Ducey warned McConnell the letter was coming.

Ducey had been a close ally of former President Trump, but their relationship soured after Trump became the first Republican in a generation to lose Arizona’s electoral votes. Trump pressured Ducey to take action to reverse the results, a power Ducey did not have.

Trump, no fan of those who refuse to break their oaths or bend the rules to benefit his own political career, repeatedly taunted Ducey. Just ahead of Trump’s January visit to Arizona, he pledged not to endorse Ducey.

But the governor remains broadly popular among Arizona Republicans. In a poll conducted in mid-January by the Phoenix-based firm OH Predictive Insights, Ducey led the field of potential Senate Republican contenders by an overwhelming margin.

Without Ducey in the race, Republicans will choose between a handful of candidates who have already been campaigning for months.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich led the field in the January poll when Ducey was excluded, though he too has been a target of Trump’s ire for failing to erase Trump’s loss. Michael “Mick” McGuire, the retired state adjutant general; businessman Jim Lamon; and venture capitalist Blake Masters are also running.

“We have a strong field of candidates in Arizona and I will be actively supporting our nominee — and perhaps weighing in before the primary,” Ducey told donors.

Ducey is the latest Republican governor to take a pass on a potential U.S. Senate candidacy this year, choosing the life of a chief executive over that of a legislator. Earlier this year, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) both said they would not challenge Democratic incumbents in their home states.