Gillespie says Republicans have a chance to win Virginia's Senate seat in 2014. Gillespie weighs Warner challenge

HOT SPRINGS, Va.—Former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie is considering a run against Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D) next year.

“It’s a very winnable race,” the powerful GOP insider told POLITICO in a Saturday afternoon interview.


Gillespie, who has never sought public office, floated the trial balloon at The Homestead resort, where about 500 activists and party leaders are gathered for a three-day annual meeting known as “The Advance.”

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“It’s safe to say that there’s people talking about it here, and I’m listening to them,” he said, noting that nearly three months remain until the the Feb. 1 filing deadline. “I’ve been flattered to have it raised. There’s plenty of time to give it some thought.”

Virginia’s Senate race is currently not seen as competitive, but Gillespie’s entry would all-but-guarantee a real battle and could put the state on the map in 2014. Republicans need to pick up six seats to win the upper champer.

“There’s a sense we have an opportunity in 2014 to win the Virginia Senate race,” he said, “and if you were to do that, that would most likely mean that you would get control of the United States Senate, which makes it a very high-stakes race.”

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Gillespie, 52, would likely win the nomination if he chose to get in, but he would need to secure it in a convention controlled by activists. Conservatives might force him to answer for the Bush presidency, with an economic record widely criticized from the right, and for his post-White House push for immigration reform.

Two unknown activists already got into the GOP field, Howie Lind and Shak Hill, but neither is seen as viable by party strategists. For his part, Gillespie called both “very good people” and added that state Sen. Jeff McWaters from Virginia Beach “would be a very good candidate” if he chose to join the field.

Warner, a pretty popular former governor, was elected in 2008 by 21 points over Jim Gilmore, a former governor who had also chaired the RNC.

“Mark Warner has not turned out to be the senator a lot of Virginians thought he would be,” Gillespie said, joined by his wife Cathy. “People thought he was going to be fiscally responsible; he voted for a trillion dollar stimulus bill. People thought he was going to be an independent voice; he’s voted on average 97 percent of the time with the president. He told us he wouldn’t support any bill that would mean that people who like the insurance they have would lose it; we know that’s not true.”

Gillespie currently chairs the Republican State Leadership Committee, which helps elect attorneys general, lieutenant governors, secretaries of state and down-ballot legislators. He spends most of his time consulting through his Alexandria-based firm, Gillespie Strategies, and delivers paid speeches. He’s on the board of trustees for the Catholic University of America.

Democrats would attack him in a general election as a D.C. insider, longtime lobbyist and Bush insider.

“There’s time to sort through this,” Gillespie said. “We’re sorting through it.”