by the Associated Press:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he can win the presidential race as an independent candidate by drawing much of his support from disaffected Republicans.
Schultz launched a heartland tour Tuesday in Kansas, long seen as reliable for the GOP. He spent part of a town hall meeting on the University of Kansas campus pushing back against Democrats’ arguments that his running as an independent would help President Donald Trump win re-election in 2020 by splitting the anti-Trump vote.
He says a campaign would have to get people who haven’t been voting to the polls and tap support from independents. But he adds that he’d be most likely to take votes from Trump.
The Brooklyn-born billionaire says he expects to decide whether to run by early summer.
Schultz continued his Heart of America tour in Kansas on Wednesday with stops in McPherson and Wichita. He met with people at Distillery 244 Old Town in Wichita late in the afternoon.
