RICHMOND — Pete Snyder, a Northern Virginia technology entrepreneur and Fox News contributor, will announce on Thursday that he will not run for political office next year and instead will endorse Republican Ed Gillespie for governor.
Snyder had been widely discussed as a potential candidate for governor, lieutenant governor or the U.S. Senate in 2017 because of his strong showing in the GOP nomination contest for lieutenant governor in 2013. He placed second that year in a crowded field.
“I am not going to be running for office in 2017, for any office,” Snyder told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “I’m going to turn my focus on making sure Republicans up and down the ballot win in November and also next year. And that’s why I’m going to put a particular focus on the Virginia gubernatorial race and endorse my good friend and strong conservative Ed Gillespie.”
Gillespie, a political strategist and former counselor to President George W. Bush and who nearly unseated Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) in 2014, leads the GOP field in fundraising and endorsements in his campaign for governor.
He faces competition for the nomination from three contenders: Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness; Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and the head of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in Virginia; and veteran state senator Frank W. Wagner (R-Virginia Beach).
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam so far faces no competition for the nomination. He is a pediatric neurologist from the Eastern Shore, Army veteran and former state senator.
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