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Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, shown in an October interview, said Monday he will not run for president in 2016.(Photo: Al Behrman, AP)
WASHINGTON — Sen. Rob Portman took himself out of the 2016 presidential running on Monday, saying he will forgo a White House bid and instead run for a second term in the Senate.
Portman said the GOP's big wins in the 2014 midterm elections were a crucial factor in his decision — convincing him that he could be more effective in the Senate's new Republican majority than he could on the presidential campaign trail.
The Ohio Republican had publicly toyed with the possibility of a White House campaign for months, sparking a flurry of political speculation and press attention. His political confidants and some wealthy GOP donors were encouraging him to run.
But Portman, who will turn 59 this month, would have faced a very difficult path to the GOP presidential nomination, given his low name recognition nationally and his endorsement last year of same-sex marriage. Social conservatives were already ginning up opposition to his possible national bid.
Portman shrugged off questions about whether his decision was a practical assessment of his chances. He downplayed the political impact of his support for gay marriage and said his family was supportive of a possible White House run, including his son, Will, who is gay and who sparked Portman's turnaround on same-sex marriage.
Portman said with Republicans taking control of the Senate come January, he expects Congress to be more productive. And he wants to be a player in negotiations over tax reform, trade legislation, and deficit reduction, all of which will be front-and-center in the next Congress.
"These next few years hold a lot of promise, and I'd be in Iowa and New Hampshire, rather than being here, if I was running for president," Portman told Ohio reporters gathered in his Capitol Hill office on Monday afternoon.
"It's just not possible to be involved with policy issues" and to mount a national campaign at the same time, he said. "It was over the weekend when I finally said, 'This is what feels right.' "
Portman began flirting with a presidential run over the summer, telling reporters that he might run if he didn't see another strong Republican candidate in the field. A half-dozen or so Republicans are already seriously considering a bid, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Some political observers believed that Portman would only run for the White House if former Florida governor Jeb Bush decided not to; the two men are both establishment Republicans who have talked about the need for the GOP to expand its appeal and who could win strong backing from the business community.
Portman, who has strong ties to the Bush family, said he talked to Jeb Bush on Monday but they did not discuss their respective presidential plans. He said his understanding is that Bush hasn't decided yet about whether to run.
Although Portman's announcement Monday will quiet the presidential buzz, it will kick off his 2016 campaign for a second term. Portman's re-election is far from guaranteed in Ohio, a closely divided battleground state.
President Obama won the Buckeye State in 2008 and again in 2012. Also in 2012, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown snagged a second term, defeating his well-funded Republican opponent, State Treasurer Josh Mandel, by a comfortable 6 percentage points.
Portman handily won election to the Senate in 2010, but his standing among some conservatives has slipped since then, mainly because of the gay marriage issue.
"It's a deal breaker" among social conservatives, said Tom Zawistowski, a Tea Party leader in Ohio and president of the Ohio Citizens PAC, which supports fiscally conservative candidates in the state.
"The entire social conservative movement (in Ohio) has been actively looking for" someone to challenge Portman in a primary, he said, although they have not found a willing candidate yet.
In a July poll by Quinnipiac University, 40%t of Ohio voters said they approved of Portman's job performance, while 28% disapproved.
Portman conceded he could have a tough re-election race and said he was expecting a primary challenge. His bank account is evidence; he has more money in his re-election account — $5.5 million — than almost any other senator up in 2016.
Portman did leave the door open — just a smidge — to being on the national ticket if the eventual Republican presidential nominee tapped him to be his running mate. In 2012, Portman was on GOP nominee Mitt Romney's vice presidential short list.
Portman declined to say he wouldn't accept that slot in 2016, but said, "I'm not interested in that. I'm not seeking that. … I'm interested in running for re-election and continuing to serve Ohio in what I think will be a more productive Senate."
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