Donald Trump Jr. says he won't run for New York governor in 2018
Donald Trump Jr. will not run for Governor of New York in 2018, he told the Associated Press on Monday.
“I am not running in 2018,” Trump Jr. said.
The younger Trump had been reportedly telling friends that he might want to run for office, and still won’t discount the possibility of a future bid. “It’s not something I’m doing now,” he said. “But you never know, it’s fascinating stuff.”
Andrew Cuomo, New York’s incumbent Democratic governor, will be up for a third term should he decide to run again in 2018. He is also thought to harbor presidential ambitions, and may run against President Donald Trump in 2020.
For his part, Trump Jr. still says that if he were to run for office, it would likely be for a gubernatorial position.
“People keep asking me: when are you running for mayor?” Trump Jr. told the AP. “Well, I’m not. If I was, New York City mayor is much less interesting to me than perhaps other things like governor of a state. That’s not saying I’m running. It’s just saying that, hey, if I ever did something, I’d probably be more interested in something like that.”
No Republican has won a statewide race in deep-blue New York since 2002, and Trump Jr. would find himself at a clear disadvantage in a state his father lost handily just months ago. Still, he remains popular among Republicans, and according to the New York Post that he recently told members of a Long Island club that he wants to run for office one day.
That day just isn’t today.
“If I say no, (the media) says ‘He’s never going to do it’ and if I change my mind, they try to kill you with it,” Trump Jr. said. “You always leave your options open.”