Ex-spy Valerie Plame now eyes US House seat instead of Senate
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former CIA operative Valerie Plame gestures while testifying on Capitol Hill, in an undated photo. (Associated Press)
Ex-spy Valerie Plame is considering running for an open U.S. House seat in New Mexico after previously saying she would launch a Senate bid.
Plame, a Democrat, said she will make a decision soon about going after the seat currently held by Democrat U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who is stepping down to run for the U.S. Senate.
“Right now, I am going around and meeting with people,” said Plame, a Democrat. “I have a lot to learn and I would like another opportunity to serve my country.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Her decision to focus on the House after indicating interest in the Senate stems from wanting to “continue Ben Ray’s legacy.”
Plame, 55, told media outlets last month that she planned to run a for Senate seat being held by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., after he announced he would not seek re-election. Plame has been highly critical of President Trump. In 2017, she crowdfunded nearly $90,000 to buy a stake in Twitter in an unsuccessful effort to ban the president from the platform.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The former CIA operative was thrust into the national spotlight when she was outed in a 2003 column that cited officials with the George W. Bush administration as sources of a leak. Plame maintained the revelation was an effort to discredit her then-husband Joe Wilson, a former diplomat who was critical of Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
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Plame wrote a memoir: “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House," which was later made into a film.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.