Lovely Warren: Why being Lt. Gov. is not 'something I see myself doing'

Joseph Spector
Democrat and Chronicle
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, seen here in a file photo with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Rochester, said she's not interested in being lieutenant governor.

ALBANY - Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren wasn't emphatic that she wouldn't consider being Gov. Andrew Cuomo's running mate this year, but she was pretty clear that she doesn't think the job is for her.

Warren said Monday it's really not something she is interested in.

"I am focused on being the mayor of Rochester. I have not received any calls from Albany about lieutenant governor. I don’t know where that came from, but I am really focused on being the best mayor I can be for the citizens of Rochester," Warren told the USA Today Network's Albany Bureau before she testified at a budget hearing.

Does that means she is ruling it out? She noted the demands of the job -- which means daily events across New York.

"I have a 7-year-old daughter that I have to think about and want to be there to raise," she answered. 

"So from spending a lot of time with our current lieutenant governor and her traveling from one end of the state to the other in a day, that is not something I see myself doing."

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Last month, speculation started that Warren, who was elected to a second term last November, could be eyed as Cuomo's lieutenant governor pick if current Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul does not to seek a second term.

Hochul has since said she wants to run again, but there continues to be talk that she could instead challenge Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, Erie County, who is a Cuomo foe and who Hochul lost to 2012 after redistricting.

Warren would be the second Rochester mayor to be Cuomo's No. 2; Robert Duffy left as the city's mayor in 2010 to be Cuomo's first lieutenant governor.

Duffy served one four-year term, and he cited the busy travel schedule as one of the reasons he chose not to run for a second term. He now heads the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

But remember: Duffy vowed for months in 2010 that he had no interest in running with Cuomo.

Then he relented and became Cuomo's running mate.