Cal Cunningham, a lawyer from Lexington who has been publicly exploring a run for Senate, will not run next year.
Cunningham is a Democrat and a former state legislator who spent months traveling around the state while flirting with the idea of challenging Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican.
But in a message on Facebook late Monday night, he told supporters that he has decided not to run.
"A campaign for the Senate is about winning and working to be a part of the answer," he wrote in the message, which he sent to members of a group that had been set up in support of his potential campaign.
"As a candidate, I have to look supporters in the eye and show them how we win -- and what we do when we get there.
"After a very careful look, I've concluded that this is the wrong race at the wrong time for me and my family."
Cunningham becomes the latest North Carolina Democrat to decline to run against Burr. Several prominent Democrats, including Attorney General Roy Cooper, have been heavily recruited for the race but have ruled out a run.
So far, two Democrats are running: Kenneth Lewis, a lawyer from Durham, and Elaine Marshall, North Carolina's secretary of state.
A third, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington, is seriously considering a run and is expected to announce his intentions soon.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a statement yesterday describing Cunningham's decision as a setback to Democratic efforts to find a strong challenger to Burr.
jromoser@wsjournal.com.
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