Republican Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles scored something of an upset Tuesday by beating far better-funded Kelly Craft and finishing second in the GOP gubernatorial primary. After most of the returns were in, Quarles was upbeat about a race he said he’d hoped to win.
“Look, I'm proud of my team, I'm proud of the way we carried this race, we focused on the issues ran a positive campaign. I've no regrets, and certainly wasn't the outcome we were looking for. But that's okay.”
Quarles has been Commissioner of Agriculture for nearly eight years, and said he planned to run through the ticker tape at the end of his second term and leave the office in the best shape possible for his successor. He said he’s spoken with winner Daniel Cameron earlier in the evening – but the second place finisher avoided a question about whether he’d accept an invite to take the second slot on the GOP ticket.
“But what if he says down the road, we’ll …”
“We're focused on getting this primary behind us. A lot of us including myself, just went a year on the road. And so who knows what's next for me, but I congratulate Daniel on a job well done.”
As the saying goes in politics – and elsewhere – time will tell.
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