Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN), who had been mulling a run for Senate in New York against appointed Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, has decided not to run.
The story was first reported by the New York Post. Afterwards, the New York Times released portions of an opinion piece that Ford wrote for the paper, to be run in its entirety tomorrow. (Late update: The op-ed is now up in its entirety.)
“I’ve examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary — a primary where the winner emerges weakened and the Republican strengthened,” Ford wrote. He continued: “I refuse to do anything that would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Republicans.”
Ford’s spokeswoman Tammy Sun declined to comment to TPM.
Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who had previously indicated that he could have supported Ford, told the New York Post: “After giving it considerable thought and talking it over with his wife, he reached the conclusion that he would not be running, although he said he would like to remain active in the Democratic Party here.”
Ford previously represented a House district in Tennessee, which was previously held by his father, from 1997-2007. He retired from the seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the United State Senate from Tennessee. Ford had been indicating that if he were to run against Gillibrand, it would have been from her right. This was especially ironic, since the original conventional wisdom after her appointment had been that Gillibrand might have faced a primary challenge from her left, which itself did not materialize.
