Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Wednesday that he is not running for president in 2020 and instead will focus on helping Democrats win in Virginia.
“I’m going home,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “I’m going to do the right thing.”
McAuliffe hinted but would not directly tell Cuomo whether he will run for Virginia governor again in 2021. He said he will first help Democrats win the state’s House and Senate seats before making that decision.
“He didn’t rule it out,” Sen. Dick Saslaw (D-Va.) told The Associated Press before McAuliffe’s announcement Wednesday.
McAuliffe also didn’t rule out a potential presidential run in elections after 2020, stressing that he thinks he would have made a good candidate.
“I’m still a young man,” he told Cuomo. “You’ll see what happens.”
Rumors that McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014 to 2018, was serious about running emerged in late March after people close to him told CNN he was leaning toward jumping into the race.
Earlier, in February, he told CNN he liked the idea of running.
“I think we had a great track record in Virginia,” he said, adding, “I’m very authentic. I will always tell you whether you like to hear it or not. And I lean in to get things done that we can actually get done.”
A former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, McAuliffe is well-versed in the rigors of campaign fundraising. He helped raise a record $275 million for President Bill Clinton while he was in office, and he boasted to The New York Times in 2012 that he had amassed more than 18,000 names in his Rolodex through his political work.
McAuliffe has also called for Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump over his friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.