Newark Mayor Cory Booker says he hasn't ruled out running for the U.S. Senate in 2014, but said he has no intention of leaving his second term early to run in 2012, according to an interview with theGrio.
"Let me be clear right now, I support Frank Lautenberg, I support Bob Menendez," Booker told theGrio, referring to New Jersey's two Democratic senators.
He said both senators are doing a great deal to help Newark, adding "I'm never going to posture myself against these two great men."
Booker's comments follow a published report Monday in the New Jersey Star Ledger that said Booker had formed a political action committee known as "CoryPac" and was eying a possible Senate run next year.
"I can tell you with 100 percent certitude that my name will not be on a Senate ballot in 2012," Booker said. "What happens three years from now...if I knew all that, I'd be a very wealthy man. The short answer is I'm never going to say never, I'm never going to close the door."
Political analysts have long called Booker one of the Democratic party's most promising candidates.
Booker also discussed the possibility that New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie could join the GOP ranks seeking the White House.
"[Gov. Christie] would make a very strong challenger [to President Barack Obama]," Booker said. "I'm hoping the Republican party brings the dialogue to a higher level...I'm hoping that [the campaign] doesn't become the politics of personal destruction, the politics of hate. I hope it becomes uplifting political dialogue," he said.
