Ducey: Not interested in Flake's seat, won't comment on his speech

SCOTTSDALE — Gov. Doug Ducey says he has no interest in joining the hunt to replace Sen. Jeff Flake, who is retiring at the end of 2018.

Ducey said he prefers to seek re-election.

“I love being the governor,” he said Wednesday, the day after Flake, Ducey’s fellow Republican, announced he won’t seek re-election next year.

“I always think it’s kind of a silly question,” Ducey continued. “Why would anybody ever leave this job to go work in Washington, D.C.?”

Ducey said he is unlikely to throw his support behind anyone in the GOP primary for Senate.

He also won’t add his voice to those of Flake and John McCain in criticizing President Trump.

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The governor dodged questions Wednesday about what he thought of speeches last week and this week in which the state’s two senators chided the president for creating what they called a toxic political atmosphere.

Flake said Tuesday, “Politics can make us silent when we should speak. And silence can equal complicity.”

Ducey responded to the questions by criticizing the federal government.

“We’re getting things done in the state of Arizona,” he said. “I challenge Washington, D.C., to get something done.”

Pressed on the point, Ducey sought to compare what he said is the gridlock at the nation’s capital with what he said is being accomplished on a bipartisan basis in Phoenix.

“I don’t see any of that coming from Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I, like many other Americans, are just tired of it.”