House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp has met with Mitch McConnell as he weighs a potential run for Michigan’s open Senate seat in 2014.
“I’m looking at it,” he told Politico. “It’s a big decision, and I’m going to look at it very carefully and thoughtfully.”
Camp would be the presumptive favorite for the Republican nominee to replace the retiring Carl Levin — only one other Republican, former Michigan secretary of state Terri Lynn Land, has jumped into the race — but he would still face an uphill battle in a Democrat-leaning state. Fellow congressman Gary Peters is the likely Democratic nominee and has the early lead in general-election polls.
Because of Republican House rules, Camp’s six-year term as committee chairman would end at the end of the current Congress, forcing him to step down from the post, which he’s currently using to push a tax-reform plan with his counterpart in the Senate, Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus.
Spencer Abraham, who lost reelection in 2000 after one term, is the last Republican to represent Michigan in the Senate.