Rand Paul in 2020? He’s showing that independent streak again
BY CURTIS TATE
FEBRUARY 14, 2017
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is quickly positioning himself again as a starkly independent Republican, the sort of political branding that fueled his presidential campaign last year.
Paul has a clearly conservative voting record. But just six weeks into the new Congress, he’s taken some high-profile steps away from party orthodoxy.
He didn’t get very far in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year. But he stood out then, and is trying to stand out now, by breaking with the party on the same issues where he attracted a following, particularly among the GOP’s libertarian wing.
“I think he was trying to signal to his core supporters that he hasn’t lost sight of or given up on the fiscal issues that propelled his movement to begin with,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican political consultant in Kentucky.
Paul cast the only Republican vote against his party’s first attempt last month to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He was also the only Republican to vote against Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director.
He’s met with members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus – perhaps best known for forcing a government shutdown and pushing former Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to quit Congress – to discuss health care changes. And he offered his own health care plan.
Paul would not comment to McClatchy, but spokesman Sergio Gor said the senator “has always been willing to work with individuals across the political spectrum who share the same goals.”
Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said Paul might be able to step in if Republicans turned on Trump or he became unelectable.
“I would fully expect Rand Paul to throw his hat in the ring,” Holman said.
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