US News

KING ABANDONS PLAN FOR SENATE RUN

WASHINGTON — Rep. Peter King (R-LI) announced yesterday that he will not be running against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year.

King said he would have had a shot at overcoming New York Democrats’ significant voter-registration advantage if he could have framed himself as the opposition candidate to a famous incumbent, such as Caroline Kennedy — which would have meant the chance to raise big money nationwide — but “that race was not to be.”

“With Gillibrand, nobody really cares about her one way or the other. They don’t even realize she’s there,” King said.

He said that after talking to friends and advisers, he realized that beating Gillibrand was too much of a long shot, and he will instead seek re-election to his congressional seat.

“Maybe it could be done, but I just couldn’t have done my job in Congress at the same time,” he said.