Haslam ‘thinking and praying” about Senate run

Gov. Bill Haslam said Thursday he will be “thinking and praying” over the “next several days” about a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Bob Corker.

The governor said he has talked with Corker about the idea and that Sen. Lamar Alexander encouraged him to seriously consider entering the race, according to The Tennessean.

“It merits spending some time thinking about it and praying about it, which I’ll do over the next several days,” Haslam told reporters after an event in Nashville Thursday morning.

…”Quite frankly I was hoping and expecting Bob to run,” he said. “So I have not spent a whole lot of time thinking about it and being in the United States Senate is not something that I’ve long dreamed about or thought about.”

But Haslam quickly followed up his initial remarks by clarifying that he will spend some time seriously weighing a potential run.

“I think I owe it to the process to think about what’s the right thing next,” he said, pointing out that although he is term-limited, being in the U.S. Senate is quite different.

“It’s a personal and a life decision if you will. Going to Washington is very different than being here.”