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New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak seen on the floor of the senate in 2010.
(Murray, Noah K./NJ Advance Media)
TRENTON -- Longtime Democratic state Sen. Raymond Lesniak said Thursday he's planning to run for governor in 2017.
Lesniak (D-Union) said he plans to focus "on the issues I championed in my legislative career," and will not seek reelection to the state Senate. He's served in the Legislature for 37 years.
"I'm not running for reelection. I plan on running for governor," Lesniak said.
"It has been a long time in the making, about a year," he said. "I just saw that the problems of this state are not being addressed and I believe that I'm best person who can get in there and say what needs to get done and get it done."
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Lesniak, a consistent critic of Gov. Chris Christie, started his legislative career in the Assembly in 1978. He moved to the Senate in 1983. State law would require Lesniak to give up his Senate seat since it's up in the same election year.
The Democrat said he would focus a statewide election on criminal justice reform and education spending. He supports a millionaires' tax in the state and raising New Jersey's gasoline tax.
"These are issues we are running away from that we can't run away from anymore," he said.
Lesniak sponsored the law repealing the state's death penalty and championed expanding drug court eligibility for nonviolent crimes. In 2011, he sponsored a constitutional amendment authorizing sports betting in the state, which was approved by voters.
He served a one-year chairmanship of the New Jersey State Democratic Committee in 1992.
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.