Spiteful Jeff Flake Eyes U.S. Senate Run as Independent to Help Democrats Win His GOP Seat

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona is considering running for his seat as an independent and has given his blessing to an outside organization to conduct polling to explore the possibility, a source familiar with his thinking tells U.S. News.

Flake announced last Tuesday he would not seek re-election to a second Senate term next year in light of his dire chances of winning a Republican primary and his frustration with the tenure of President Donald Trump. Polling showed him trailing his insurgent challenger, Kelli Ward, by double digits.

But The Centrist Project, a group created to recruit independent candidates, has approached Flake about running outside the dominant two-party system, and he is open to the possibility