Retiring U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson will not run for New York governor in 2018, he said Monday.

Gibson, a Kinderhook Republican who has been the Mid-Hudson’s congressman since January 2011, said he “will be leaving politics” and has accepted a position as a college lecturer in western Massachusetts.

Gibson, 51, was elected to his third two-year term in the House in November 2014 and announced less than two months later that he would step down at the end of 2016. Gibson said at the time that he was considering running for statewide office in 2018, and he formed an exploratory committee two months ago regarding a possible bid for governor.

New York’s current governor, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, was elected to his second four-year term in 2014 and has $16 million on hand if he decides to run for a third term.

In February, Gibson said: “For too long, Governor Cuomo has led with fear, intimidation and bullying. New York has been embarrassed by corruption and lags behind in too many important categories. We can do better.”

At an Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast in January, the congressman said it was time to “restore the faith” in state government, and he talked about the need for independent redistricting, “some” campaign finance reform and denying pensions to state lawmakers convicted of felonies.

He also told the chamber he felt “a sense of duty and calling for the people of New York.”

In a statement to the press issued Monday afternoon, Gibson said he visited 48 of the state’s 62 counties in recent months and that he “appreciate[s] greatly the warm welcomes and support I have received, and the time so many have dedicated to our mission to change the state….”

But “the last year has also brought into greater clarity what our next steps should be as a family,” he said. “Mary Jo (his wife) and I have three teenagers who are in their last years at home. In addition, I was just offered and accepted a position with Williams College [in Williamstown, Mass.] as a visiting lecturer on leadership, beginning in February 2017, and anticipate accepting other academic positions shortly. Ultimately, for our family, the opportunity to spend increased time together balanced with a return to academia was one we could not pass up. Therefore, I will not be running for governor in 2018.”

Gibson said he will shut down his gubernatorial exploratory committee and return campaign contributions that he has received.

Gibson represents New York’s 19th Congressional District, which comprises all of Ulster, Greene and Columbia counties, part of Dutchess County and some or all of seven other counties.

The race to succeed Gibson in the House has attracted five candidates: former state Assemblyman John Faso of Kinderhook, Dutchess County resident Andrew Heaney and Delaware County resident Bob Bishop on the Republican side; and law professor Zephyr Teachout and town of Livingston Deputy Supervisor Will Yandik on the Democratic side.

Teachout, who lives in the Dutchess County town of Dover, ran against Cuomo in a Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2014. She won only 34 percent of the popular vote but carried half of the counties in the state, including 10 of the 11 counties that make up the 19th Congressional District.

Gibson is a retired U.S. Army colonel whose 24 years in the military included four tours of duty in Iraq. He first was elected to the House in 2010, when he unseated Democratic incumbent Scott Murphy of Glens Falls in what then was New York’s 20th Congressional District. Gibson won again in the new 19th District in 2012, beating Democrat Julian Schreibman of Stone Ridge, and in 2014, defeating Democrat Sean Eldridge of Shokan.

Gibson is among the more moderate members of the House GOP caucus and sometimes bucks his own party when voting. He also has worked at times will fellow Hudson Valley Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from Cold Spring.

Gibson is in line with Republicans on some hot-button issues — he opposes same-sex marriage, taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and New York state’s SAFE Act gun-control law — but he has said abortion is a private matter to be decided by a woman and her doctor. But he opposes abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

(AP)