Trump out of governor race

Donald Trump announced on his Twitter feed that he won”™t run for governor, ending a flirtation with the Republican nomination that few insiders expected would crystallize into an actual candidacy.

Trump has never pulled the trigger to officially run for office, but has been mentioned as a potential candidate for president in the past and is already among the crowded crop of GOP hopefuls for 2016.

“While I won”™t be running for Governor of New York State, a race I would have won, I have much bigger plans in mind ”“ stay tuned, will happen!” Trump wrote Friday in a Twitter post.

Trump, the wealthy reality TV star and real estate tycoon, was courted by some Republican Party leaders who felt his name recognition and large bank account would give the party its best chance to unseat popular and well-funded incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Trump had said that he would have only run for governor if he could avoid a primary, an unlikelihood from the start that became an impossibility this month when Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino announced he was seeking the GOP nomination.

Trump, whose “Celebrity Apprentice” is reportedly set to air again this fall, had harsh words for Republican Party leadership which he called “dysfunctional” on his Twitter feed. His expected exit from the gubernatorial race does not necessarily offer a clear path to the Republican nomination for Astorino, as Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino has also expressed interest in a run.

The party is scheduled to hold its nominating caucus in May at the Westchester Hilton in Rye Brook, on Astorino”™s home turf of Westchester County.