Dan Senor, the Bush administration adviser on Iraq and husband of CNN’s Campbell Brown, has opted not to run for the Senate against Kirsten Gillibrand.
“Over the past few weeks, I took a very serious look at running for the Senate seat in New York,” Senor said in a written statement.
“I ultimately decided this wasn’t the right time in my family and business life for me to run.”
The Post had first reported that Senor was considering a run, and he was the person many party leaders had started to coalesce around.
Senor had been recruited by state GOP chairman Ed Cox, and other factions of the Republican Party also liked him.
The list of hopefuls on the GOP side is now down to former Long Island legislator Bruce Blakeman, former Rep. Joe DioGuardi — the dad of “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi — and economist David Malpass.
The party is under pressure, in a weak Democratic year where independents are trending toward Republicans, to come up with strong challengers, but in many cases it is struggling.