Katie Pavlich, the editor of conservative site Townhall.com and a New York Times bestselling author, declared on Twitter Friday that she is considering challenging seven-term Republican Senator John McCain for his Arizona seat after she becomes eligible in five years — though McCain will next face re-election in 2016, in less than four years.
“I can run against John McCain in 5 years, semi-seriously considering,” Pavlich tweeted Friday, shortly before noon.
Pavlich — the Fox News contributor and author of Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover-up — will turn 30 in five years, making her eligible to run for the seat.
If McCain stays in the Senate that long, the first potential Pavlich-McCain primary would occur in 2022.
“I’m not going to give a yes or no,” Pavlich said in an interview with The Daily Caller Friday. “I’m from Arizona, and I’ve lived under John McCain. He’s been in office longer than I’ve been alive.”
“I just think overall he’s out of touch. He’s been there for too long,” Pavlich said. “He comes back to Washington, D.C., and he plays nice with the liberals.”
Pavlich sees the transition from journalism to public office as natural.
“You see a lot of journalists working in congressmen’s offices and senator’s offices,” Pavlich said, pointing to the age-old revolving door between Washington’s newsrooms and Capitol Hill.
Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin quickly voiced her support for Pavlich’s political ambitions, declaring on Twitter, “ENDORSE.”
McCain told The Huffington Post’s Jon Ward in an interview that he’s unsure if he’ll even run again in 2016, citing the tendency for older senators to become the “objects of our sympathy.”
McCain would be 86 by Election Day in 2022.