'I think we have to go a different direction because we’re just not winning,' Paul said. Rand Paul says he's eyeing 2016 run

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) could soon be following in his father’s footsteps.

“I’m not going to deny that I’m interested” in a 2016 presidential run, the Republican told ABC News. “I am different than some in that I’m not going to deny that I’m interested. I’m not going to deny that I think we have to go a different direction because we’re not winning.”


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The tea party favorite said the GOP can turn around its 2012 losing streak if it focuses on localizing issues to state governments instead of focusing of federal responses.

“I think we have to go a different direction because we’re just not winning and we have to think about some different ideas,” Paul said. “States should be allowed to make a lot of these decisions. I want things to be decided more at a local basis, with more compassion. I think it would make us as Republicans different.”

Paul’s father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), ignited a libertarian base in the Republican primaries during the 2008 and 2012 election cycles, but the elder Paul decided against running for his seat in Congress this year.