Corey Lewandowski, who was Donald Trump’s first campaign manager, said Thursday that he was “very seriously” considering seeking the GOP nod to take on New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, though his statement misspelled his would-be foe’s name as “Jeannie Shaheen.”
WMUR reported earlier in the day that members of the RNC were talking about recruiting Lewandowski, which may come as unpleasant news to Senate Republicans. While the NRSC hasn’t endorsed anyone, they recently helped retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc by hosting a meet-and-greet for him.
Lewandowski has run for office twice before, though neither campaign went well. In 1994, while he was a student at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Lewandowski lost the general election for an open seat in the Massachusetts House. In 2012, Lewandowski unsuccessfully campaigned for town treasurer in Windham, New Hampshire.
Lewandowski’s political fortunes dramatically changed in 2015 when he became Trump’s campaign manager. Lewandowski was in charge as Trump claimed the GOP nomination, though he managed to still cause problems for the campaign. Most notably in March of 2016, Lewandowski was charged with battery by police in Florida after he was accused of forcefully grabbing a Brietbart employee named Michelle Fields who attempted to ask Trump a question, an event that was recorded by a security camera. Lewandowski responded to the news by taking to Twitter and calling Fields “delusional” and claiming he’d never touched her.
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg ended up dropping the charge, declaring, “While the evidence in this case is legally sufficient for the police to charge Mr. Lewandowski, it is not strong enough to meet the burden of a reasonable likelihood of a conviction.” Trump was hardly angry with his campaign chief, and he even told prosecutors that Fields had touched him first and urged them to “do the right thing.”
However, Trump was less tolerant of Lewandowski’s day-to-day management of his campaign In June, after donors, party strategists, and even the Trump children complained about the campaign’s direction, Trump fired Lewandowski; security soon unceremoniously escorted the deposed campaign chief out of Trump Tower. Despite that high profile fall from grace, though, Lewandowski is still close to Trump, and he rode with him on Air Force One on Thursday.
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