Cory Booker rules out Senate run next year

NEWARK, N.J., June 9 (UPI) -- Cory Booker, the mayor of New Jersey's largest city, said Thursday he has no plans to run against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., next year.

While he said he would not enter next year's Democratic primary, Booker did not rule out a run for the Senate in 2014, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. His current term as mayor of Newark ends that year as does the current term of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who will be 90 that year.

"You know, that's 2014, I support Senator Lautenberg. I talked to him last night. He is my senator. I've supported him before. I've raised money for him. We've worked hard for him," Booker said. "But that's three years from now. Right now I've got to focus on making Newark safer, safer, safer, jobs and education."

Bari Mattes, a Booker fundraiser, recently formed CoryPAC. The political action committee's stated goal is to support candidates likely to back initiatives helpful to cities, but it also suggests Booker has ambitions beyond Newark.

Booker, the son of one of IBM's first black executives, grew up in a mostly white New Jersey suburb and graduated from Stanford University. He was a Rhodes Scholar before going to Yale Law School.

He made a conscious decision to move to Newark, where he lived in a troubled housing project for eight years. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2002 and was elected in 2006.