At least four sitting GOP senators are looking at the race. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., continues to lead many early primary polls and seems almost certain to run. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is positioning himself to be the most rigidly conservative contender in the field and has already deployed his political team to peruse office space for a potential campaign headquarters. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., remains interested but his decision will almost certainly be affected by what Bush decides. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is feeling out interest but could find himself dwarfed by a field full of outsize personalities.
While there’s widespread acknowledgement would-be candidates like Paul and Cruz boast significant followings that would grant them a heavy imprint on the campaign, there’s a sense the party eventually will settle on a governor. Many in the GOP long for another Ronald Reagan, who was governor of California, while even the administration of George W. Bush, a former Texas governor, is being viewed more favorably as time goes by. The most recent Republican presidential nominee was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
In anticipation of Democrats nominating Hillary Clinton, many Republicans calculate their best play would be to nominate a candidate outside of Washington who can make the contrast clear and sharp.
“People feel better about the states than they do about the federal government,” says Bobby Schostak, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. “People back home in the states are not warm to Washington, but governors in these states have moved them forward and people are seeing and feeling real results.”