Report: Friends of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe say he's "seriously considering" 2020 run
Close confidants of outgoing Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe say he is "seriously" considering a run in 2020, according to reports by The Hill newspaper.
"He's given me every indication that he's taking it seriously," said one McAuliffe friend who has spoken to him about his intentions to run in 2020. "I don't think he's 100 percent decided that this is something he's planning to do but it is something he's seriously considering."
But friends tell The Hill that his biggest obstacle could be his close relationship to the Clinton family.
"I think that's his biggest problem," the friend said. "It will be so hard for him to thread the needle. Bill Clinton is his best friend and anyone who knows Terry knows he is a very, very loyal person. He would walk over coals for Bill Clinton, so I don't think it's a politically tenable position."
McAuliffe served on Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and was chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign.
The Democrat has been vocal about his position toward President Trump, questioning his leadership skills in the wake of the violent clashes in the Charlottesville, Virginia this past summer.
"When I talked to him, he called me right before he gave his press conferences, and I told him, 'Mr. President, it's hatred, it's bigotry, it's racism, and it needs to stop in this country. Let us work together for reconciliation, let us go forward to bring our nation back to together again,'" McAuliffe said on "CBS This Morning." "He agreed with me on the phone call, but I don't understand the statements he made."
He added, "Those remarks are dividing people; we cannot be dividing people."
McAuliffe has had to govern in a divided purple state, where Republicans control the lower chamber of the legislature. But he's mostly managed to navigate his time in Richmond unscathed, and has decent approval ratings above 52 percent, according to a Real Clear Politics aggregation of polling.
The former Democratic National Committee chairman, legendary in Washington for his fundraising skills, represents an establishment wing of the Democratic Party.
McAuliffe's term in the governor's seat ends this January as Democratic candidate Ralph Northam will take over the role after winning Virginia's highly anticipated gubernatorial election earlier this month.