Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner announced Thursday that she will not run for Congress in 2018.
Miner's name has come up a number of times as a possible Democratic challenger to Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) for the 24th Congressional District seat. But in a statement, Miner says she will not run.
"After much thoughtful consideration and conversations with my family, I have decided I will not be a candidate for Congress in 2018," Miner said. "This was not an easy decision given magnitude of issues faced by our community, but I believe we are best served supporting other progressive leaders in this election both at home and across New York.”
Two Democrats have announced that they are running for the seat. Anne Messenger is a former small business owner and special education teacher from Manlius. She declared her candidacy in July.
Dana Balter is a professor at Syracuse University, and announced her candidacy last month.
Miner cannot run for a third term as mayor due to term limits. Her name has also come up as potential challenger to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“If I were to decide to run for governor, I would be a huge underdog,” Miner said in an interview in September. “I’m not going to run a race in order to match (campaign) contributions. So I think you have to do it based on ideas.”
Miner has not yet decided whether she will challenge Cuomo or not.