Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, is actively considering running for statewide office in 2026, including mounting a potential campaign against U.S. Sen. Ed Markey or for other posts like lieutenant governor or treasurer, the lawmaker said in an interview.

The fourth-term state representative said he traveled to Washington, D.C. this past week to meet with “key people” in conservative circles, including strategists who work on statewide campaigns in Massachusetts and others who are “very involved in the political forefront.”

Soter said he is still debating what office he may run for but wants to make a decision sometime in the “early summer” and is “not ruling out” running for U.S. Senate against Markey, who is up for reelection next year.

The legislator also said he would not “confirm or deny” whether he was considering running for treasurer or lieutenant governor in Massachusetts but said “you’re pretty close.”

“I think we’ve seen many times in the past that people who actually step to the plate, run statewide that actually care about people … people gravitate towards that statewide candidate as a Republican,” he said. “If we do this, we’re going to do it full force. We’re going to do it with a lot of energy, with a lot of support, and really make it about the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Soter, who did not disclose who he met with in Washington, joins a growing list of Republicans who have floated themselves as candidates for the 2026 statewide elections.

Most of the candidates making early waves are considering running for governor as conservatives like Mike Kennealy, a former cabinet secretary under Gov. Charlie Baker, Peter Durant, a state senator from Spencer, and Brian Shortsleeve, a one-time MBTA official and venture capitalist.

But Soter is one of the first Republicans to publicly consider other positions, including the daunting task of taking on Markey, the 78-year-old Democrat first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2013 who has $1.8 million in his campaign account as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Markey has said multiple times he is running for reelection, including during a television appearance in October where he pointed to his work on climate change, federal funding, privacy rights for teenagers and children, and gun control.

“I’m ready for the fight. I’ve never been more energized, and I’m ready to stand for reelection and that is my full intention,” Markey said.

A spokesperson for Markey did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Thursday.

Soter’s potential campaign for U.S. Senate surfaced days after Baker, a three-term governor with high popularity ratings, confirmed he had no plans to run against Markey even after a UMass Amherst poll found the two in a dead heat in a theoretical matchup.

Soter said no matter the office he may run for, he wants to focus on the high costs of energy for residents in Massachusetts, transparency in government, and the influx of migrants that has put a strain on the state-run emergency shelter system.

The former selectman from Bellingham and businessman said he gets “numerous emails” on a weekly basis from people who want him to run for higher office.

“They want their politicians to relate to them. They don’t want them to forget them after they’re elected,” he said. “It’s deafening that our politicians are forgetting about our voters.”

Soter had just over $8,400 in his campaign account as of Feb. 3, according to state campaign finance filings. He spent slightly more than $1,600 and raised just under $3,000 in January from four separate donors, the records show

He raised $8,591 and spent $3,067 in December, according to state campaign finance data.

“Over the last couple weeks, as I have been chatting with other potential names that are out there … it seemed like, with people we were sitting down with, it seemed to always pivot back to ‘well, what are you going to do?” Soter said. “I also have been sitting with my family and discussing it and thinking about it.”