Republican U.S. Senator and University of Memphis alumnus Fred Thompson announced Monday he will run for re-election in 2002.
Thompson, who has been actively involved in national security matters since the beginning of his Senate career, said the attacks on Sept. 11 played a major role in his decision to run again.
“I believe it is good for a person to have a career before politics, serve his country for a while and then go back into private life and another career,” Thompson said in a statement issued from his Washington office. “But now is not the time for me to leave.”
Thompson is especially central to the government’s reaction to the recent attacks in New York and Washington because he holds high positions in committees heavily involved with the federal response to terrorism.
Thompson is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, a 17-member committee that, according to Thompson’s website, “is charged with overseeing the management of the federal government.”
On Sept. 21, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs held a hearing entitled “Responding to Homeland Threats: Is Our Government Organized for the Challenge?” in reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks.
He is also a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which oversees the nation’s intelligence activities.
Thompson will vie for his second six-year term. He has held his Senate position since 1994. He won in the 1996 election with the biggest vote total in Tennessee history.
Thompson graduated from The U of M in 1964 with a degree in philosophy and political science.
Thompson’s offices in Nashville and Washington were reluctant to talk about the senator’s decision to run again. In the press statement released Monday, Thompson shed some light on his reticence.
“With what is happening in our nation, this is not the best time to be making a statement that has to do with politics, but, frankly, I’m not sure when the next good time will be,” Thompson said.
