Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett announced a news conference today that he’s not seeking a third term heading Iowa’s second largest city.
Corbett has been the subject of much speculation that he would run for governor in 2018. In response to a question about that today, he said he’s making that decision in phases.
“So I’m taking the first step today, announcing that I’m not running for re-election in 2017,” he said. “And then I’ll take additional steps sometime next year.”
Additional steps would eventually mean seeking the Republican nomination against Kim Reynolds, who will be moving up from lieutenant governor if Governor Branstad is confirmed as U-S ambassador to China.
Corbett says even if Reynolds wasn’t in line for a promotion in early 2017, she was always presumed to have a 2018 election advantage.
“That hasn’t changed,” he says. “It may change only in the fact that she’s appointed governor to fill out the term, but she’ll always have the leg up.”
Corbett is also promising to end his annual State of the City address on February 22nd with a big surprise, though that doesn’t necessarily mean an announcement about his political future.