Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced on Friday that she will not seek the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Carl Levin.
“Friends, thanks for all of the encouragement on the Michigan Senate seat, but I’m not going to run,” Granholm wrote on Facebook late yesterday.
A visiting professor of law and public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, the Canadian-born Granholm had served two terms as governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011.
Granholm’s decision not to enter the fray leaves a wide open field in the race for the Democratic nomination to replace Levin. Among candidates seriously eyeing the seat are U.S. Rep. Gary Peters — an early ally of the Occupy Wall Street movement — and Democratic National Committeewoman Debbie Dingell, wife of longtime Congressman John Dingell.
Several other Democrats are also reportedly considering bids for Levin’s seat.
Levin, who will turn 79 in June, announced earlier this month that he wouldn’t seek a seventh term in the U.S. Senate next year. The longest serving senator in Michigan history, Levin has held the seat since 1978 when he defeated two-term Republican Sen. Robert P. Griffin by more than 122,000 votes.
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