Centrist Rep. Don Bacon is done with Congress — but keeping the door open on a presidential bid

Centrist Rep. Don Bacon, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, said this week he doesn’t have the “hunger” for another grueling reelection campaign and won’t run for a sixth term next year.

WASHINGTON — Centrist Rep. Don Bacon, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House, said this week he doesn’t have the “hunger” for another grueling re-election campaign and won’t run for a sixth term next year.

But Bacon, who spent 30 years in the Air Force and specialized in intelligence matters, said he’s interested in serving in an executive role down the road, and wouldn’t rule out running for Nebraska governor, or even president in 2028.

“I got asked the other day, ‘You say you’re interested in being an executive — is that governor or president?’ I go, ‘Yes,’” Bacon said in an interview in his office. “If there’s an opportunity and I can make a difference, a unique difference, I would like to keep serving. I just don’t want to do two-year elections.”

Bacon, 61, acknowledged that it’d be incredibly difficult to run for the White House as a current or former House member — James Garfield was successful way back in 1880. And Bacon said he’s not sure his brand of Republicanism — Reaganism and a muscular view of foreign policy — can ever make a full comeback in the party, though he said he will continue making the case for it.

Bacon sat down with NBC News in his office on Wednesday.Frank Thorp V / NBC News“I don’t think it would be very easily done,” he said. “All I know is I have a heart to serve our country, and I have a vision.”