Booker not planning on 2016 presidential run

{mosads}”The mayor was unequivocal — 2016 is not in his plans. He is focused on winning New Jersey’s Democratic Senate primary on Aug. 13,” said campaign spokesman Kevin Griffis.

Griffis confirmed an earlier report from Politico that quoted the New Jersey Senate candidate as declaring in response to a question about whether he’s ruling out a presidential or vice-presidential run in 2016, “absolutely yes, unequivocally.”

Booker, a rising Democratic star, is favored to win the upcoming New Jersey Senate primary and will likely go on to win the seat in the general election. He’s seen as a potential presidential contender in the future, with some naming him as a contender in the near future — as soon as three years from now.

Though Booker seemed to move to end that speculation on Thursday, he’s made similar pledges before. In December 2012, he pledged to “complete my full second term as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.”

When Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) passed away, however, the special election moved up Booker’s timeline and forced him to break his pledge.