Rob Maness

Robert Leon Maness, known as Rob Maness (born November 14, 1961), is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and a Republican and Tea Party figure in his adopted U.S. state of Louisiana. His political action committee called Gator PAC is active in many state campaigns, including the unsuccessful effort in 2015 to make U.S. Senator David Vitter the new Louisiana governor.

Born to a military family in Fort Lewis, Washington, Maness was an unsuccessful Republican U.S. Senate candidate in 2014. He lost out to fellow Republican Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, who unseated then sitting Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of New Orleans. Maness endorsed Cassidy in the runoff contest against Landrieu. Maness was endorsed in the primary election by the Senate Conservatives Fund and such luminaries as former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States. Maness polled 202,556 votes (13.8 percent).

Vitter supported Cassidy in the 2014 campaign, but Maness endorsed Vitter to succeed fellow Republian Bobby Jindal as governor. Jindal was meanwhile an unsuccessful contender for his party's 2016 presidential nomination. Maness has been mentioned as a potential Senate candidate once more in 2016, when Vitter's second term in the body expires. Upon his defeat for governor, Vitter announced that he will not seek a third term in the Senate.

Maness received his bachelor's degree from the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida, and his master's degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He attended the Air Command and Staff College and the College of Naval Warfare. He and his wife, Candace, reside in Madisonville in St. Tammany Parish in suburban New Orleans. The couple has five children.

In December 2015, Maness announced that he will run in 2016 for the other U.S. Senate seat from Louisiana, which will be vacated by the incumbent David Vitter. His opponents will include Republican U.S. Representatives Charles Boustany of Lafayette and John Fleming of Minden.