Jackie Speier opts not to run for attorney general

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier has decided not to run for California attorney general, a spokesman announced Tuesday.

"She's going to remain in Congress where she can focus on issues that she cares about," said Nathan Ballard, Speier's campaign spokesman.

The San Mateo Democrat had huddled during the weekend with friends, supporters, political acquaintances and members of the attorney general's office who urged her to seek the position expected to be vacated by incumbent Jerry Brown's anticipated run for governor, according to Ballard.

But Speier met with her family Sunday night, and they decided together that she will remain in Washington, Ballard said.

"They had a family discussion and arrived at a mutual decision that the timing isn't right for her to run for statewide office at this point," Ballard said.

In a written statement released later Tuesday afternoon, Speier said that "I believe I can best serve my constituents by remaining in Congress and working hard on consumer protection, financial reform, jobs, and health care."

Speier, 59, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2008. She is a member of the financial services committee, the oversight and government reform committee, and the select committee on energy independence and global warming.

"My constituents have given me an extraordinary opportunity to protect the environment, the elderly, and a woman's right to choose," her written statement said. "I am grateful to serve in Congress, and I do not take a single day for granted."

Speier, a former state legislator, is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, and received her law degree from the UC Hastings in San Francisco. She has two children currently attending Bay Area schools -- Stephanie Sierra, 15, of Mercy High School in Burlingame, and Jackson Sierra, 21, a student at Stanford University.

If Speier had run for attorney general, she would have joined a crowded Democratic field of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris; Assemblymen Alberto Torrico, Ted Lieu and Pedro Nava; Facebook's chief privacy officer, Chris Kelly; and former Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

Original story here

Submitted by Jim Wagner