Free Republic

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) has ruled out a 2016 White House bid, he announced Wednesday. "It's just not in the cards. I don't want to be taking up other people's time," King said on CNN's "Wolf," noting his position on the House Homeland Security and Intelligence committees.  King, known for his hawkish views on national security, also said he was exploring a presidential bid out of concern Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) were "monopolizing the airwaves." "They were getting out what they thought was their Republican message. I wanted to counter that. I think I've been...

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday the odds are "50-50" that he will enter the 2016 presidential race. "I'm certainly not ruling it out," King said during an appearance on CNN's "Wolf." "Right now I'm sort of 50-50." King said he intended to make his decision by the end of June.

Washington (CNN) – Iowa Rep. Steve King, whose hard line immigration rhetoric has angered some of his fellow Republicans and delighted Democrats eager to keep Hispanic voters in their fold, is quietly planning meetings with political activists in the early presidential primary state of South Carolina, CNN has learned. King will travel to the state in late August to attend the Charleston Meeting, a closed-door gathering of right-leaning politicians and business leaders organized by author and activist Mallory Factor, two Republican sources said. The Charleston Meeting and its sibling, the New York Meeting, are semi-regular events hosted by Factor that...

If you're a 2016 GOP presidential hopeful, watch out for Rep. Peter King's right hook ... King believes the Republicans don't stand a chance if they put up the wrong candidate against Hillary Clinton. "I think she's very strong on foreign policy, and I think that if we nominate someone from our isolationist wing of the party, she'll destroy them," King said, putting Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz squarely in the isolationist category ...

Rep. Peter King of New York—who told Newsmax this week he may seek the GOP nomination for president in 2016—says the major reason he would run is to save the troubled Republican Party. And the New York congressman took a shot Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and other Republican lawmakers for their “isolationist policies.” “It bothers me when the leading Republicans out there—someone like Rand Paul seems more concerned about an American being killed in Starbucks by a CIA drone than he is about Islamic terrorism,” King told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” … He added Paul and...

In a recent political development that could only be called unexpected, Newsmax has learned that Rep. Peter King (R-NY), past chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is being encouraged by friends in and outside the Empire State to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016. Several of those friends told us that the popular Republican—who turned 69 in April and is now in his 11th term as congressman from New York’s Third District—has returned the show of support in a presidential bid with a strong maybe. King, one of the House’s most vocal national security advocates, is said...