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Harold Ford Not Running For Senate Seat Held By Kirsten Gilibrand

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on March 1, 2010.

03/01/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Harold Ford Jr. has decided not to run for the Senate seat currently held by Senator Kirsten Gilibrand. “I’ve examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary — a primary where the winner emerges weak-ened and the Republican strengthened,” Ford stated, as reported in the New York Times.

“I refuse to do anything. That would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Republicans.”

Ford has been under immense pressure to not run by the Democratic Party as well as the New York LGBT Community. His departure from the race leaves Gilibrand facing political unknowns in both the Democratic Primary and the General Election as no high profile Republicans have stepped forward to take her on.

Several New York City based donors had been urging Ford to run for the seat because they feel underwhelmed by Senator Gilibrand. Senator Chuck Schumer had recommended her to replace Senator Hilary Clinton largely because Gilibrand was an Upstate New Yorker and balanced himself out since he is from the City. Senator Gilibrand, as the junior Senator, is not shining strongly largely because she lacks the normal mandate that a fully elected Senator has. Additionally, as a junior Senator, she is hardly in the spotlight for committee assignments.

While Ford’s pollsters may have believed that he might have prevailed against Senator Gilibrand, his fear for the negative nature of the primary is something that could have crippled either him or Gilibrand afterwards. For Ford, the fact that he has been linked to Merrill Lynch and then to Bank of America was more than likely going to be a major problem for him in the long run. His reluctance to release the figures for his bonuses has been something of a problem for him as well. He has been unwilling to make that information public, and that has also become a problem for him.

At some point in the future, Harold Ford might be able to get back into politics. Between his association with the Banking Industry, his newness to New York, his lack of major name recognition (unlike Robert Kennedy and Hilary Clinton), it is unlikely that Ford would have been strong enough to survive the General Election even if he were to survive the Primary.