‘It seems nuts to me,’ Danforth says of possible Senate run by Rep. Ann Wagner

One of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s biggest backers dismissed the idea that a Missouri congresswoman might make a better candidate for Missouri Republicans in the U.S. Senate race.

Former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth, who spearheaded the effort to recruit Hawley to the race, dismissed the mounting speculation that U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a St. Louis area Republican, might be taking a second look at the race that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.

“I don’t know anything about it. But it seems nuts to me,” Danforth said Tuesday. “What would be the result of that if that happens? Would Wagner have any chance in the world to get elected to the Senate? It doesn’t seem at all sensible.”

The congresswoman and former ambassador, who had long been considered a frontrunner to challenge U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, announced in July that she would not be entering the race for Senate after a very public campaign by Danforth and other prominent Republicans to recruit Hawley, the state’s 38-year-old attorney general.

John Hancock, a friend of Wagner’s and a former state Republican chairman, told The Star that Wagner has been urged to reconsider that decision by GOP leaders in recent weeks.

Wagner’s campaign would not respond to Danforth’s comments.

This story was originally published February 6, 2018 at 3:07 PM with the headline "‘It seems nuts to me,’ Danforth says of possible Senate run by Rep. Ann Wagner."