The former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent who inspired the hit film "Sound of Freedom" said Friday he is "very seriously considering" a run for the U.S. Senate in his home state of Utah to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney.
Tim Ballard made the announcement during an appearance on the digital show of former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer, where he said he had been approached by numerous "influential people" for weeks about a potential run before Romney announced Wednesday he would not be running for re-election.
"Since Sound of Freedom took out any opportunity for me to ever be an operator again — those days are done … They know my face. But starting several weeks ago, I've been asked by a lot of very influential people, names you would even know, asking me to throw in," Ballard said.
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Spicer noted Ballard lived in Utah, which the former admitted was the very seat he was asked to look at running for.
"I was very seriously considering it then. And now, I'll be honest, even mores very, very seriously considering," Ballard said.
When asked what would get him into the race, Ballard said his "wife and prayer."
"So she says yes when you go home, you're in?" Spicer asked.
"That's how it's always worked in the past. So even before Senator Romney announced his retirement, a lot of things were building up to this consideration. I was with the president of Honduras last week, and the president of Guatemala last week, and I was just listening to them in their plight, in their tears, over the plight of their people because of our border policies," Ballard said.
"We're talking about millions of people being affected by forms of slavery because of the wind that our policies put into the sails of child traffickers. And I thought, there has to be something done — more done — at the federal level. So it just kept building and building and building. At the same time that's happening I'm getting phone calls from people," he said.
He added that confirmation Romney would not be running again took his consideration to the next level.
