Burris will not seek election to Senate post

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) - Sen. Roland Burris, D-Illinois, announced Friday that he will not run for a full six-year term next year.

"Being a United States senator today requires not only a significant time commitment to performing the job, but almost equal commitment to raising funds to run competitively for the office," he told a crowd of people at the Chicago South Loop Hotel.

"In making this decision I was called to choose between spending my time raising funds or spending my time raising issues for my state," he said.
"I believe that the business of the people of the state of Illinois should always come first."

As Burris emerged to speak, the crowd had greeted him with cheers, urging him to run.

Burris, currently the only African-American U.S. senator, is serving the remaining two years of President Barack Obama's Senate term, but he has never been embraced by his party's leaders in Illinois or Capitol Hill.

He was appointed to the seat in late December by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who had been arrested on federal corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder.