ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Republican Rep. Chris Gibson said Monday he will not run for New York governor in 2018, abruptly ending months of public flirtation with the prospect of seeking the office.
The three-term congressman from the Hudson Valley said he, instead, plans to teach college after leaving Congress at the end of the year. Gibson said he accepted a position with Williams College in Massachusetts as a visiting lecturer on leadership and expects to accept more academic offers shortly.
Gibson explained in a statement that he and his wife have three teenagers who are in their last years at their home in Kinderhook.
“Ultimately, for our family, the opportunity to spend increased time together balanced with a return to academia was one we could not pass up,” Gibson said.
The former Army colonel won his congressional seat in 2010 and has consistently run strongly in an upstate district closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.
Gibson formed a committee this year that allowed him to raise money for a possible campaign. He said he will close that exploratory committee and refund contributions.
He also recently stepped up his travels around New York as he mulled a run. He argued that his moderate positions and cross-the-aisle appeal could help the GOP in a state where Democrats hold a 2-to-1 enrollment advantage. But Gibson had also conceded that any Republican’s path to New York’s executive mansion was “steep and narrow.”
Other potential GOP candidates for 2018 include Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who lost to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014. Cuomo this year reported $16 million on hand if he runs for a third term.
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