FILE PHOTO - Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski departs after appearing before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Corey Lewandowski, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is considering a 2020 run for a U.S. Senate seat in New Hampshire now held by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, two sources close to Lewandowski said on Thursday.

Lewandowski ran Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 for a time and has remained close to Trump throughout the president’s first years in office. He is a Republican political operative from Manchester, New Hampshire.

Shaheen, a former governor of the New England state, is expected to seek a third six-year term in the Senate next year.

Lewandowski planned to travel with Trump on Thursday to a rally in Cincinnati, and could raise the topic with the president on the flight, the sources said.

“This is serious consideration,” said one source, who asked to remain unidentified.

Trump is to hold a rally in Manchester on Aug. 15.