Tisei: 'You never know what the future will bring'

Former Republican House candidate Richard Tisei could find himself in the middle of another hard-fought race just months after facing defeat in his first.

Asked whether he'd be willing to run in a special election for Massachusetts senator, if Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) were appointed to President Obama's Cabinet, the former contender for Massachusetts's 6th district said he wasn't yet thinking about his future, but left the door open to a possible run.

"I'm going to take a few weeks off, then think about my future. You never know what the future will bring," he told The Hill.

However, recently defeated but still popular Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is widely considered the top GOP pick to run if there is a special election, and Tisei quickly added that he'd support Brown for the position.

"I would certainly want Scott Brown to run again, and I would do whatever I could to help him," he said.

Tisei was the Republican Party's best chance for picking up a House seat in deep-blue Massachusetts, and ran a strong campaign, leading a number of independent political handicappers to give him a better-than-even chance at picking up the seat.

But he was ultimately unable to outrun his party, and incumbent Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) came out on top.

Still, Tisei's profile is built to make him a rising GOP star in Massachusetts; the openly gay, pro-abortion-rights former state legislator made a strong pitch to centrist voters, and his strong 2012 run brought him attention from Republicans in the Bay State.

--This post was published at 12:02 p.m. and updated at 2 p.m.

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