Harold Ford Jr. won't run for Senate in N.Y.

Democrats in New York will not have to worry about deciding between Junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. in a primary this fall, after Ford announced Monday he will not seek the Senate seat.

In a New York Times op-ed due out Tuesday, Ford says he does not want to risk a negative primary or weaken the party.

Gillibrand was appointed to the seat by controversial Gov. David Paterson last year after Hillary Clinton was chosen by President Obama to become U.S. Secretary of State. Ford moved to New York in 2006 after he took a job with Bank of America Merrill Lynch following the loss of his congressional seat in Tennessee.

Ford was discouraged from running for the seat by both the White House and Sen. Charles Schumer, but moved forward with gauging his chances of winning the seat in recent months. Gillibrand, who ignored Ford when he first showed interest in running for the seat, began characterizing him as a carpetbagger after he attacked her on numerous occasions, including calling her a "parakeet" who takes positions based on party leaders instead of her own beliefs.

In the end, while Ford will cry about being "bullied" out of the election, it is good for not only Democrats but all New Yorker's that some Tennessee carpetbagging, political hack will have the right to vote on our behalf. Gillibrand, who I covered as a reporter, voted for, but thought was too conservative to represent New York in the Senate, has actually turned out to be a strong liberal voice on health care and the public option.

Ford's op-ed reads as follows:

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.


I refuse to do anything that would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Republicans.


I realize this announcement will surprise many people who assumed I was running. I reached this decision only in the last few days — as I considered what a primary campaign, even with the victory I saw as fully achievable, would have done to the Democratic party.