SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Mark Shurtleff is now making it official to ABC 4 News: he will not run for another term as attorney general.
At a recent event to support Mitt Romney's political future, Mark Shurtleff told ABC 4 about his own future.
ABC 4: "You running again?”
Mark Shurtleff: “Not for attorney general. I am not going to run for attorney general again."
Shurtleff told ABC 4 he hadn't made this decision public until we asked him.
For months, Shurtleff has apparently been going back and forth about whether to seek a 4th, 4 year term.
Here's what he told us last summer.
ABC 4: "Does that mean you are going to run for another term?”
Shurtleff: "I am going to keep my options open."
Even though Shurtleff has critics, he remains popular with many voters.
He won his last two attorney general races with nearly 70 percent of the vote.
And just because he won't run for attorney general again, doesn't mean Shurtleff won't be running for something else.
Perhaps, a U.S. Congressional seat.
Shurtleff told ABC 4,
"I will keep my options open for what else I might be looking at."
Already, at least three Republicans are reportedly looking at the 2012 attorney general's race – State Senator John Valentine, Shurtleff's deputy John Swallow and attorney Sean Reyes.
On the Democratic side, we've heard one of the sons of former Congressman Wayne Owens may also be interested.
