Wil Cardon, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona, recently revealed that he remains skeptical about President Obama's eligibility for office.
"I think people who run for office -- if there are certain qualifications to run for office, they ought to prove that they meet those qualifications," Cardon said, according to the Arizona Republic.
When pressed on whether Obama had met "those qualifications," the Republic reports that Cardon declined to go into further detail.
"I haven't been in the middle of that inspection," he responded. "I'm running my own race right now, not worrying about Obama's race."
The issue of the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate, which the White House released last year amid clamor from skeptics such as billionaire Donald Trump, has frequently arisen in Arizona.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio spearheaded an investigation into the president's documents earlier this year, eventually concluding there were persistent questions about their validity. He later claimed that the media was perpetuating a conspiracy "bigger than Watergate" in order to shield the president from questions about his eligibility.
While some in the state have subscribed to such skepticism, Cardon's primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, has been more direct in denying its merit. Asked to weigh in on the issue earlier this year, Flake rejected the birther concerns.
"Having said that, [Obama] is our president," he said. "And I believe he is a citizen. Our job is to defeat him in November and that is what I'll be focusing on."