Republican Daniel Donovan, the Staten Island district attorney who didn't win an indictment against the police officer who killed a cigarette vendor, announced today he will run for Michael Grimm's vacated seat in Congress.
Grimm resigned from office in late December after pleading guilty to a felony tax-evasion charge. After the news broke that Grimm would step down, Donovan said he would make a decision about running after due deliberation.
"In the week since my last announcement the enthusiasm for my candidacy has only broadened and intensified, with expressions of support also from beyond the two boroughs," Donovan said in a statement.
"Accordingly, please consider this my formal announcement that I will be seeking the endorsements of the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Parties in the upcoming Special Election for the 11th Congressional District of New York."
Donovan has received criticism for his handling of the Eric Garner choke-hold death case. A grand jury on Staten Island, which is home to many police officers, decided against indicting Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer shown on video choking Garner before his death.
The grand jury's decision not to indict the police officers involved set off a wave of protests in New York and other cities.
When Donovan announced that he was considering a run last week, a police union official told BuzzFeed News they "would encourage him to run to lend his voice on a national level."
Donovan ran for New York Attorney General in 2010, promising to fight corruption in the New York statehouse. After winning his party's nomination, he lost in the general election to Democrat Eric Schneiderman.
Read his full statement:
Last week I announced that I would seriously consider running for the vacant Congressional seat in the 11th Congressional District of New York. I made that announcement after a 24 hour period in which my phone never stopped ringing with expressions of enthusiastic support from elected officials, party leaders, and residents of Staten Island and Brooklyn. I said then that after due deliberation I would make my decision.In the week since my last announcement the enthusiasm for my candidacy has only broadened and intensified, with expressions of support also from beyond the two boroughs. Accordingly, please consider this my formal announcement that I will be seeking the endorsements of the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Parties in the upcoming Special Election for the 11th Congressional District of New York. I expect the selection processes of those parties to commence sometime in the near future and will only comment further in due course after those party processes have taken place.