Richard Tisei decides against Senate run
One day after announcing he would explore a run for Secretary of State John Kerry’s old Senate seat, out gay Republican Richard Tisei announced he will not run in the special election.
“Unfortunately, the timing is simply not right for me to do so – deeply as I feel about the need to strongly compete in this election,” Tisei said in a statement released Saturday. “It was also my desire to make this decision as quickly as possible so that other potential candidates would be able to consider whether they should run.”
One day earlier, Feb. 1, Tisei said he was exploring a run for Kerry’s Senate seat after former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) announced he would not run for the seat. Brown was defeated in his bid for re-election to the Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in November.
“[T]his was a wrenching decision for me to make, but the timing simply isn’t right for me to run for the Senate,” Tisei added in a post to supporters on Facebook. “I look forward to joining each of you in doing everything I can to support a well-qualified, principled man or women to be our candidate for the Senate on June 25.”
Tisei’s decision not to run in June’s special election ends the possibility of another LGB member joining Congress and the Senate gaining its second out member. Nevertheless, he has not ruled out running for Congress in the future.
In November, Tisei lost narrowly to Rep. John Tierney (D) for the 6th District seat in Congress that Tierney has held since 1997. Tisei, who supports marriage equality and is pro-choice, served in the Massachusetts State Legislature for 26 years.
[Photo: Richard Tisei (Courtesy of Facebook).]
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