After state House loss, Hightower says he's considering a primary against U.S. Rep. Whitfield

Less than 24 hours after coming up short in a state House race, Chris Hightower announced on his Facebook page that he is considering challenging longtime Republican Congressman Ed Whitfield in 2014.

Hightower on Tuesday lost to Democratic state Rep. Martha Jane King in the 16th House District covering Todd and Logan counties. He lost by more than 1,500 votes.

The Facebook post reads “US Congress 2014! Clear a path!” And among comments in the post, Hightower informed friends on the social networking site that he plans to challenge Whitfield in a primary.

Hightower told Pure Politics in a telephone interview that he is considering running for Congress because, after his state House race, he believes voters are more concerned with federal issues than statewide issues.

And when asked about why he would challenge Whitfield, Hightower said “we need new people in Congress, many of our elected officials have been there for 20 years. We need new people, Republicans and Democrats”.

In the Facebook post, Hightower added that he had been leaning toward challenging U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, but “because because he threw me a bone, I will stand down.”

McConnell’s leadership, the Bluegrass Committee, gave Hightower’s campaign a $1,000 check in September.

Hightower, a former campaign staffer for Rand Paul’s 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, said he might run for another office instead of Congress.

But there is already a Chris Hightower for US Congress Facebook page online.