Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones called running for Congress "an opportunity that comes once, maybe twice in a lifetime", but it's an opportunity that he will NOT pursue this election season.
In a late morning news conference, the seven year commissioner described struggling to choose between continuing his run for re-election against Republican challenger Deborah Sutherland -- or declaring for the race to replace Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
Jones said In the end, it came down to two issues: a job uncompleted:
JONES: "I want to see Cuyahoga County and northeast Ohio once again reclaim the pre-eminence and the prominence that we formerly had."
And a relationship with his wife and children that he thought being in Washington might change.
JONES: "those are things that I'm not prepared to give up"
Jones did not endorse any Democrat for congress, and decried what he called a waste of money for two mandatory elections to choose a new congressional member. The special election to fulfill the remainder of Tubbs Jones current term will be held November 18th, with a primary election held on October 14th.
And next week, the District's 330-member democratic executive committee will choose a replacement for Tubbs Jones to be on the November 4th ballot.