On December 2, U.S. Senator Rand Paul formally announced that he will seek re-election to the Senate in 2016. See this story. He has not formally said he is running for President in 2016.
According to a CNN/ORC poll released December 2, for the Republican presidential nomination, Paul is tied for sixth place, behind Mitt Romney, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, and tied with Paul Ryan. Thanks to Darryl Perry for the link to Paul announcement, and to PoliticalWire for the link to the poll.
UPDATE: here is a detailed analysis of Paul’s election law strategy if he runs for president simultaneously with running for re-election to the U.S. Senate.
Can he be on the ballot for both senator and president in Ky?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/01/politics/rand-paul-dual-runs/
It’s the UNITED COALITION with Rand Paul elected to the team too!
Check out this 22-minute YouTube video between declared candidates for US President in a conference call last night.
Participants are Keenan Dunham [Libertarian], Dorothy Collins [Democratic] and James Ogle [Republican]. Rand Paul [Republican] is one of the 51 candidates for POTUS on our team which also includes two Unity Party candidates for POTUS.
We’re planning another such video for next week and additional POTUS candidates and perhaps others will be participating.
http://youtu.be/q8DM4lJnL7w
A Rand Paul/ Al Sharpton ticket? http://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-just-had-a-sitdown-with-al-sharpton-2014-11
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/393089/rand-paul-meets-al-sharpton-discuss-criminal-justice-reform-christine-sisto
Why would any sane person discuss criminal justice with a man who called for riots in Ferguson?
I think Rand Paul already knows that his brand of “libertarian” conservatism will not fly with the rank and file GOP Primary voters. I really will be surprised if he also seeks the GOP Presidential nomination in 2016
Technically, Rand Paul could be a candidate for both – even though if he did run for both – and the Kentucky Legislature would not pass a special bill guaranteeing his right to run for both.
The Constitution does not speak of candidates for President, but rather of candidates for Electors for President. Senator Paul – if push can to shove – would most likely get a favorably ruling from the Supreme Court if this scenario did play out in 2016.
Ron Paul could run in the Kentucky presidential primary. He could then release “his” delegates before the national convention.
Even if he could win a court case with regard to the November election, it could backfire politically. It would give an appearance of not being confident in his election as President.
The Constitution does set a qualification of not holding two offices. An election law that prevents someone from running for two offices is reasonable and rational since it ensures that the Kentucky would not have to hold a special election, or risk the type of corruption that occurred in neighboring Blagobama.
The robot party hacks can NOT add disqualification stuff for running for USA Senator.
There would be a blatant violation of the Equal Protection Clause regarding running for Prez to add disqualification stuff.
On to SCOTUS ASAP — i.e. via a declaratory case in the KY USA District Court.
I understand that Democratic Senator Lyndon Johnson when added to the national ticket in 1960, was not sure if Senator John Kennedy would win, and therefore used his influence to get the Texas Legislature to pass a bill which would allow him to run both for U.S. Senate and the Vice-Presidency during the same election.
Johnson easily was re-elected U.S. Senator from Texas, but when Kennedy also won – making Johnson Vice-President – he resigned as U.S. Senator. leading the way eventually for Republican John Tower to become U.S. Senator in a Special Election, and the birth of the modern GOP in Texas.
In 1932, John Nance Garner was simultaneously re-elected as a US Representative and as Vice President. He had been House Speaker, so on January 20, 1933 he went from presiding over the House to presiding over the Senate.
Following WWII, Harry Truman and the national government tried to steal Texas oil (Tidelands). Governor Allan Shivers engineered a change in law that instituted con-fusion in Texas. In 1952, Shivers and the other statewide office-holders ran as both Republicans and Democrats, and was re-elected, but Dwight Eisenhower carried the state for the presidency.
Later, in removing the con-fusion provisions from the election code, it was simply made impossible for a person’s name to appear twice on the ballot. That was the provision that LBJ had changed. His motivation might have been simply to permit him to be nominated for senator, with uncertainty whether he would be the presidential or vice-presidential nominee.
After LBJ was elected Vice President, he resigned his senate seat which he had been re-elected to. In Texas, this triggers an almost immediate special election. The appointment of a senator by the governor is very definitely temporary.
Special elections in Texas are held under a Top 2 system, without partisan primary nominations. John Tower finished in the Top 2 in May, and was elected in the runoff in June.
Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, simultaneously ran for senate re-election (successful) and Vioe-President (unsuccessfully). When he resigned from the Senate in 1993 to be Treasury Secretary, it triggered the Top 2 special election where Kay Bailey Hutchison was elected.