Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., dodged a potentially tough primary challenge Wednesday when state Sen. Mark Green announced that he would not run for Senate.
Corker confidants have predicted that Green, an ally of President Trump, would not challenge the incumbent, in part because he and the senator have a close personal relationship.
But Green, who was nominated for Army secretary by Trump but was later forced to withdraw, took his time deciding, and Republican insiders in Tennessee told the Washington Examiner in July that he would be a serious threat to Corker should he choose to run.
“As everything sits right now with the races as they’re forming for 2018, I don’t intend to run for any office,” Green said on the Ralph Bristol talk radio show on WWTN, according to the Nashville Tennessean newspaper. Green also is forgoing a run for governor.
Anti-establishment angst continues to roil the Republican Party in Tennessee. But absent a top flight challenger, Corker should have an easy path to renomination and re-election in the general election.
If the current situation holds, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate Republican campaign arm, and Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will be saved from having to invest resources in Tennessee to protect Corker.
