PHOENIX — Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods announced Friday he is not running for Senate in 2020.
There was speculation that Woods would be running for Martha McSally's Senate seat, which she was appointed to by Governor Doug Ducey after Senator John McCain's death.
Jon Kyl held McCain's seat until January 2019. McSally will hold the seat until 2020, when McCain's term was set to end.
Woods says that he feels like he's disappointing a lot of people by making this announcement.
Woods announced Friday he doesn't want to be tied up in an 18-month-long battle against other Democrats in the state, though he did say he believed he could beat McSally if he were to run.
In November 2018, Woods announced that he was registering as a Democrat, switching parties from a Republican.
Woods said last year he likes the direction the Democratic Party is heading and feels the Republican Party has moved away from the principles it once boasted.
Former U.S. Attorney from Arizona Dennis Burke said last year Woods would be a strong candidate for Senate.
“He’ll be a strong candidate, he’s a very good campaigner, he’s an excellent public speaker…he can convey his position extremely well to voters, he’s got a strong background, he’ll be very popular among Democrats and obviously even Republicans."
In the 2018 mid-term elections Woods went up to bat for Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema for Senate and Democrat Dr. Hiral Tipirneni who was running in District 8 against Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko.
