After Calling Off Race, Ford Disses Gillibrand (VIDEO)

Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN)
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Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN), who yesterday announced he won’t to run for U.S. Senate from New York, this morning criticized his would-be primary opponent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for not spending more time with upstate voters.

“I spent seven weeks traveling and listening and learning and I can assure you, voters don’t know the junior senator,” he said, referring to Gillibrand. “They can’t name a single positive outcome from her, which means one simple thing: She will be labeled for the failures of Washington, the failures of Albany.”

“In Syracuse, my visit there yesterday, in the seven weeks that I paid for myself to get around the state, I was there more times than Kirsten Gillibrand had been there since he’s been a U.S. senator,” Ford said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Gillibrand’s office could not immediately comment on the claim.

“I wish her the best as she tries to figure this out,” Ford added. Last week, in a meeting with the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, Ford said he would “absolutely” support whoever is the Democratic nominee.

He also said this morning that he would have won a primary. But he worried that a “brutal” contest would have weakened the winner against the Republican nominee.

“I hope to be able to run again for office but this is not the right time to do it,” he said.

A poll released today by Marist, however, showed that Ford was trailing Gillibrand 44% to 27% among Democrats, with 25% undecided.

According to the New York Post, Ford was scheduled to meet today with the chairman of the Independence Party. But Ford canceled the meeting.

Watch:

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