Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was not the original choice to give the Tea Party Express response to the State of the Union. Originally, Tea Party Express organizers had reached out to Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
Lee’s office confirmed that they had been asked, but said that Lee opted not to do it.
“He was asked to do it originally, and we deliberated on it,” Lee Communications Director Brian Phillips said, but Lee “ultimately passed on the opportunity.”
Tea Party Express chief strategist Sal Russo told The Daily Caller:”We discussed it with several individuals to ascertain interest and decided Rand would be the most appropriate to complement Rubio.”