Ohio’s Republican US Senator Rob Portman announced his retirement last month after serving 2 terms.

Now, Fox News correspondent and former television host Geraldo Rivera is considering a run for Portman’s seat.

“Pondering running for retiring [Senator Rob Portman’s] seat in the United States Senate. #GoBuckeyes” tweeted Rivera.

 

Rivera has been a resident of Shaker Heights, Ohio since 2017, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg also stated that Rivera was a “longtime ally” of former President Trump:

Rivera was a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump but their relationship soured after the 2020 election. Rivera criticized Trump for his refusal to accept his loss to President Joe Biden, saying Trump was acting “like an entitled frat boy.” He said the former president was guilty of inciting the Jan. 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, though he added that Biden should pardon him.

Back in 2014, Rivera considered running for Senate in New Jersey as a Republican. However, those plans never came to fruition.

If Rivera – who is 77 – decides to run his celebrity status should help him raise a significant amount of money, but he will face other challenges.

In 2017, actress Bette Midler tweeted a video interview she did with Barbara Walters in 1991. In the interview, Middler told Walters that she was groped by Geraldo in the 1970s.

“Geraldo and his producer came to do an interview with me in the early 70s. This is when he was very..sort of hot. And he and his producer left the crew in they pushed me into my bathroom. They broke two poppers and they pushed them under me and proceeded to grope me,” Middler said.

“I did not offer myself upon the altar of Geraldo Rivera. He was unseemly…his behavior was unseemly,” she continued.

 

Geraldo did not respond to the allegations, but they will certainly surface once again should he throw his hat in the ring.