HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Josh Shapiro won’t run for U.S. Senate race even though Democrats in Washington, D.C., had courted the Montgomery County commissioner as an alternative to second-time candidate Joe Sestak.
Shapiro says he isn’t interested in going to Washington to be a legislator.
That leaves Sestak and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge first-term Republican Pat Toomey in the 2016 election.
Sestak is a former two-term congressman and Navy vice admiral from suburban Philadelphia who lost narrowly to Toomey in 2010 after knocking off Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter in the primary.
But Sestak has a chilly relationship with some party leaders. Democrats are optimistic that a presidential election year will bring out enough bedrock Democratic voters to defeat Toomey.
The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported Shapiro’s decision.
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