Congresswoman and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will seek a seventh term in the House instead of running for Senate, a spokesman said Tuesday.
The announcement ends speculation that she would run for the seat now held by Sen. Marco Rubio if he gives it up to run for president. Wasserman Schultz believes she can be more effective in her current seat and wants to use her position as DNC chair to elect a Democratic president next year, spokesman Sean Bartlett said.
Wasserman Schultz first told CNN and the South Florida Sun Sentinel that she would seek re-election.
She is in a safe Democratic district that includes parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
She has served as chair of the DNC since 2011 and has been a powerful party fundraiser. That term expires in January 2017.
Some Democrats have privately griped that she has used the perch to advance her own personal ambitions, including a potential move into House leadership.
Wasserman Schultz irked party officials last September when she said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a potential Republican presidential candidate, had given women "the back of his hand" through his policies. The DNC later said the chair was not belittling the pain that survivors of domestic violence experience.
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At the DNC, she has helped the party shed debt and recently oversaw its selection of Philadelphia as the site of the 2016 national convention. Wasserman Schultz also has spearheaded a task force to determine why Democrats have struggled in recent mid-term elections.
