Newly appointed Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says he won’t run for Senate in 2016, dashing hopes of North Carolina Democrats looking for a high-profile challenger.
A spokeswoman for the former mayor of Charlotte said he would not run against Republican Sen. Richard Burr in an email to National Journal.
“He has no intentions of running against a senator who supported his nomination and told Senator Burr in so many words several months after being confirmed,” spokeswoman Meghan Keck wrote.
Democrats are searching for a high-profile candidate to challenge the two-term Republican incumbent in a state that is increasingly purple.
The state’s other senator, Democrat Kay Hagan, is currently locked in a competitive race with Republican statehouse speaker Thom Tillis.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls currently puts Hagan ahead by 3.7 percentage points.
