Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced today that he will not be running for Governor of New Jersey. Instead he will run for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Frank Lautenberg.
A senior adviser to Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) confirmed to TPM Thursday that Booker intends to run for Senate in 2014, even if that means challenging longtime Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) in the primary. [....]
Booker announced his intentions to “explore” a U.S. Senate run in an op-ed published in the Star-Ledger Thursday.
“Let there be no doubt, I will complete my full second term as mayor,” Booker wrote. “As for my political future, I will explore the possibility of running for The United States Senate in 2014.”
I don't believe the governorship is necessarily a better springboard into a presidential campaign than becoming a senator is. (see: Governor Romney, Senator Obama) Furthermore, a gubernatorial campaign against Chris Christie could have been very, very messy.
We may still see that campaign some day though, because this leaves open the possibility that Christie and Booker may face each other in a presidential campaign at some point in the future.