Maloney Won't Challenge Gillibrand for Senate Seat
Maloney said she will stay in the House of Representatives and wants to spend her time working on health care reform and other issues instead of running a Senate campaign.
She had said she was considering a run earlier this year.
I make this decision, not because I fear a tough political fight, but because I love one," Maloney said in the statement. "In this Congress, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to enact meaningful health care reform, restore the trust and confidence in our financial systems, and take a step toward a clean energy future."
"We can do all this and more, but not without a mighty effort that deserves all my focus and all my energy," she wrote. "I welcome the challenge of shaping those bills and passing those reforms."
Maloney's decision clears the way for Gillibrand, who was appointed by Gov. David Paterson to the seat formerly held by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
One New York Democrat tells CBS News's Steve Chaggaris that Democratic leaders statewide had concluded that Maloney, who represents the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a small part of Queens, had very little appeal statewide and would have had a hard time defeating Gillibrand in next year's primary. Because of this, the source said, support for Maloney never materialized and she saw the writing on the wall.
Gillibrand was criticized by some Democrats for her relatively conservative views on issues like gun rights, though she has moved to the left since becoming a senator. That prompted Maloney to suggest she is a flip-flopper.
The state and national Democratic Party applied pressure to clear Gillibrand's path to general election, however, angering those who felt voters were being deprived of their right to select the party's nominee.
"The Empire State is a splendid nickname for New York, maybe perfect," columnist Clyde Haberman wrote in the New York Times. "Some leading political lights act as if the state is their empire, not part of a republic in which supreme power is supposed to rest with its citizens."