LITTLE ROCK — Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Curtis Coleman of Little Rock says he may run for governor in 2014.
Coleman, 63, said Monday that since his failed U.S. Senate bid last year, a number of people have approached him and asked him to consider running for governor. He said he met with supporters in Jonesboro on Monday to discuss the possibility.
Blogger and Arkansas News Bureau columnist Jason Tolbert first reported Monday morning that Coleman was considering a run for governor.
Coleman said he likely will make a decision in about 18 months, after he has gauged the level of potential support.
“Everybody who’s ever run for office or is in office has a bubble of people around them who encourage them to run and tell them they’ll be the greatest that ever was in that office,” Coleman said. “It’s difficult for a candidate to understand the size of that bubble.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
He estimated that he would need to raise about $6 million to mount a gubernatorial bid.
If elected, Coleman said he would fight against “the federal government’s increasingly encroaching presence in state rights and state government, and personal rights and personal lives.”
Coleman founded, ran and eventually retired as CEO from Safe Foods Corp. of North Little Rock. He currently travels around the state giving seminars on the Constitution and is chairman of an advisory committee created to make recommendations on office policies to Secretary of State Mark Martin.
The state Democratic Party has complained in the past that it is inappropriate for someone who is active in politics to advise the secretary of state, whose duties include overseeing state elections. On Monday, the party tweeted of Coleman, “This is the same guy directing ‘non-partisan’ office policy for elections from Mark Martin’s office?”
Coleman said he sees no conflict of interest. He said he hopes the committee will be able to complete its work and present a report to Martin in February, more than a year before he expects to make a decision on running for office.
The report will contain non-binding recommendations for making the office more efficient, he said.
Martin spokesman Alex Reed, formerly a spokesman for Coleman’s U.S. Senate campaign, said there would be no conflict since Coleman is not an announced candidate and the all-volunteer panel would complete its work in a few months.
Gov. Mike Beebe will be prevented by term-limits from seeking a third term in 2014. U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, said in July that he will not seek re-election so he can consider a run for governor.
Others who are widely regarded as potential candidates for governor include Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Mark Darr, a Republican.
Coleman’s Senate campaign ended last year when he lost his party’s nomination to John Boozman, who went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln.