Veteran congressman Tim Ryan said Friday he has decided against running in the 2016 U.S. Senate race for Republican Rob Portman's seat.
The Democrat said he had given "much thought and deliberation" to the swing-state race that could be important to GOP hopes of holding its Senate majority in the presidential election year.
"With my new and growing family, I feel now is the time to be close to home," Ryan said in a statement. Ryan was married in 2013, and his wife, Andrea, gave birth to a son last year. He also has two stepchildren.
The 41-year-old Ryan handily won his seventh term in November and had said he was considering the Senate race.
Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld is already in the race for the Democratic nomination, while former Gov. Ted Strickland is considering it. Strickland, a former congressman from southern Ohio, says he will announce his decision by the end of this month.
Ryan said "family, friends and countless Ohio leaders ... shared their views and supported" him while he was deciding.
Portman, of the Cincinnati area, is a former congressman and White House budget chief who is seeking a second Senate term.
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