Sen. Rob Portman said Thursday he would consider a presidential bid, but only after the elections in November.  

“Yeah, I’ll take a look at it after the election,” the Ohio Republican told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast, when asked if it was still something he was considering. For now, though, he said “I’m focused on 2014 and doing my job as a senator at the moment, and that’s a full plate right now.”  

The senator said he did not know how soon after the election he might make such a decision.  

“I want to see what happens in these elections,” he said, adding that he also wanted to see what other potential candidates decided to do.  

The Ohio Republican’s name has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate, and he said earlier this summer  that he would consider a presidential bid himself in 2016. Last month, he spoke at an event in New Hampshire, a crucial early presidential state.  

As for reading the tea leaves from his New Hampshire trip, he demurred that his daughter goes to school in the Granite State.  

Portman is a prodigious fundraiser from a state that has proved essential to presidential candidates to win in past elections. He also played a critical role in bringing his party’s nominating convention to Cleveland in 2016.

If he were to run for president, Portman would open up a Senate seat to a number of waiting contenders .  

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