Arizona Rep. Franks isn’t interested in running for Flake’s Senate seat

PHOENIX — The fight for a certain senate seat in Arizona will be go ahead without Rep. Trent Franks.

The 60-year-old Republican told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Reality Check with Darin Damme on Wednesday that he was not running against U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake in next year’s primary.

“I sincerely have no intention of running,” Franks said. “… I just cannot see me running against Jeff Flake for the Senate. … I think God himself would have to tell me to do it.”

But he didn’t rule out a Senate run farther down the road.

“If I’m supposed to run for Senate, there’ll be time for that in the future. I don’t think this is the right time for me at the moment.”

In his eighth term, Franks serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. He said one reason he was staying put was because had legislation in the House that he wanted to protect.

There has been pointed interest with the Republican party in Flake’s seat. For now, Dr. Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City is his only challenger, but President Donald Trump reportedly talked with Arizona State Treasurer Jeff DeWit and former state GOP chairman Robert Graham about running at a recent campaign rally in Phoenix.

Franks was also there and said, “I won’t be specific, but it is true the race with Jeff Flake did come up. There was no mention of who I would support or wouldn’t support if someone ran against him.”

Flake has been openly critical of Trump since before the election. Trump has been firing back with tweets and veiled but abrasive references about Arizona’s Republican senators during his Phoenix visit.

The conversation was casual, held backstage at the Phoenix Convention Center. Graham’s daughter posted a photo of the gathering to social media.

“It’s been distorted a bit. … it wasn’t what you would say was a formal meeting,” Franks said, adding his brother also had been conversing with Trump.

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