Steve Stockman, the Texas congressman who launched a long-shot primary challenge against Senator John Cornyn, told NRO this morning that he plans to run for office again. His decision to enter the Senate primary precluded his bid for reelection to his House seat, so his Senate primary loss means he’ll go back to civilian life in January of 2014. But he might not stay there for long.
“We’re going to run again at some point,” he told NRO at CPAC. “This Tuesday we didn’t finish where we wanted to, but in reality our votes were greater than anticipated.”
He says he would have done better if he’d had more time to campaign. The congressman announced his entry to the primary race a few hours before the filing deadline, surprising political insiders in Austin and Washington, D.C.
Stockman defended his lack of campaign appearances by comparing his campaign to that of George P. Bush, the son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush who easily won a primary for Texas land commissioner the day Stockman lost.
“George P. Bush, I don’t think he ever went to a tea party or he ever went to any kind of thing, really,” Stockman says. “You didn’t see him at all. You know, 1.43 million voters — you can’t go door-knocking, it has to be continual message. So we mailed millions of emails and millions of robocalls. That’s just how you have to do it.”