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Lewandowski, who faced the prospect of a grueling primary race and a general election against the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, made his announcement in a series of tweets. He wrote that he was “certain” that he would have won, but had instead decided to focus on ensuring that Trump is reelected in 2020.
Lewandowski would most likely have had support from key parts of Trump’s political apparatus. In August, the president all but endorsed Lewandowski in an interview with a New Hampshire radio host.
“I will say this — if he ran, he would be a great senator. If he ran and won, he’d be a great senator,” Trump said in the interview. “He would be great for New Hampshire.”
If he had run, Lewandowski would have been the subject of intense scrutiny, including of the clients he has represented since Trump entered the White House. He was fired by Trump’s children as the campaign manager in June 2016, but the president has retained a fondness for him and speaks with him often.
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Before that, Lewandowski helped Trump notch his first primary victory in New Hampshire, which helped vault him to the Republican nomination.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times .