Republican Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who has been an outspoken critic within his party of President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday that he will not run for re-election in 2018 when his term ends.
“The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I’m not willing to take, and that I can’t in good conscience take,” Flake told The Arizona Republic in an interview. “It would require me to believe in positions I don’t hold on such issues as trade and immigration and it would require me to condone behavior that I cannot condone.”
Flake’s willingness to criticize Trump stretches back to the 2016 presidential campaign and has continued during the president’s term in office. In August, Trump tweeted his approval that a Republican in Arizona announced a challenge to Flake in the state’s Republican Senate primary.
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