Former Sen. Jeff Flake, one of President Donald Trump's most visible conservative critics, finally put an end to any speculation he would run for president in 2020.

Flake, an Arizona Republican whose single Senate term ended Jan. 3, said on "CBS This Morning" there is no viable path forward for a Republican like him to challenge Trump for the White House.

Flake, 56, is joining CBS News as a contributor and his first project, named "Common Ground," centers on stories of people who have come together to solve critical issues, such as criminal justice reform.

Flake ended his Senate career and abandoned a run for a second term largely because his support among Arizona Republicans cratered after his numerous battles with Trump, usually over the president's style of politics.

In the months leading up to his resignation, he stoked speculation that he was considering a 2020 GOP primary challenge against Trump, or a third-party bid. His appearances in New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, seemed to signal he was seriously considering it. But more recently, he made moves to tamp down talk of a run.

“I’ve always said that I do hope that there is a Republican who challenges the President in the primary," Flake said on the show Tuesday morning. "I still hope that somebody does, but that somebody won’t be me. I will not be a candidate.”

Flake noted that the Republican National Committee and the president’s reelection campaign "are now melded, they are trying to do everything they can to squelch any opposition.

"I still hope that some and still some are still talking about it, do run," he said. "I think that is healthy, and I’m not a fan of this president, but that won’t be me."

Asked for his views on former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's possible 2020 presidential bid as an independent, Flake said he could see it playing out if someone "far left" is nominated by the Democratic Party and the Republicans nominate a "weakened" president.



"That's difficult to see, but stranger things have happened, and I think we're living in strange times," Flake said.

Schultz will speak at Arizona State University on Wednesday about his new book, "From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America."

Flake formerly served as executive director of the Goldwater Institute, a libertarian think-tank, before he was elected to the first of six terms in the House of Representatives in 2000. He served in the Senate from 2013 to 2019.

In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Flake also weighed in on the election of his one-time primary rival Kelli Ward as chair of the Arizona Republican Party. A Trump loyalist who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016 and 2018, Ward ousted the incumbent chair, Jonathan Lines, a more moderate Republican.

Ward was leading Flake in the polls at the time Flake ended his re-election campaign in October 2017.

Ward's rise as head of the state party, Flake said, could jeopardize the GOP's hold on the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Martha McSally and could pose problems for statewide candidates moving forward.

McSally lost her 2018 race for the seat to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, but subsequently was appointed to Arizona's other Senate seat and must stand before voters again in 2020.

"I do think that part of the problem I've had with the president and the Trumpification of the party is we're playing the game of subtraction rather than addition," Flake said. " And you can drill down hard on the base and just rely on the base getting very excited, and getting out there, that only goes so far. It's drilling down on a diminishing base and this is further evidence of the Trumpification of the party. I don't think that that ends well, politically.



"The more the party becomes Trump's party — and this is certainly a further step in that direction, I think the more difficult it is for any statewide candidate in Arizona."

Follow the reporter on Twitter and Facebook. Reach her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com.

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