Jan Brewer: I'm Not Running for Re-Election

Jan Brewer made it official: She's not running for re-election as governor of Arizona. She had publicly flirted with challenging state term limits and running again, but dismissed the notion today at a press conference in Glendale, the Arizona Republic reports. "I’m saddened to be leaving this post next year but I’m proud of the remarkable progress we’ve made for the state," she said. "I will continue to champion and cheer Arizona from the sidelines." More specifically, she told the Arizona Capitol Times that she'll use the $1-million-plus held by two political action committees to help elect "pragmatic" Republicans rather than "ideologues."

Brewer has taken heat for allowing a one-cent sales tax increase and accepting federal funds for ObamaCare's expansion of Medicaid, and says inflexible Republicans have "turned a lot of people off." She declined to endorse any of the nine announced contenders, saying the GOP has "a bench of good candidates." By the calendar, Brewer has only served one-and-a-half terms because she took over from Janet Napolitano in 2009, so she had a case for running again—but decided not to press the issue. "There’s a time to be, and a time to go," she said. "It’s the right time for me to move on." (More Jan Brewer stories.)