Mass. Gov. Patrick Not Running for White House

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said on Wednesday that he was not running to succeed President Barack Obama in Washington.

“I am not running for president in 2016,” Patrick told reporters at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, according to The Boston Globe. “I’m going to finish this second term.

“I’m going to go back into the private sector,” Patrick added. “And as Diane, my wife says, pay some attention to our family and friends while they are still willing to have us pay some attention.”

Patrick’s 2016 prospects rose within Democratic circles after he gave a well-received speech at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina last year, the Globe reports.

He called for Democrats to “stiffen our backbone and stand up for what we believe.”

Patrick’s second gubernatorial term ends in January 2015.