ESPN and SEC Network college football analyst Paul Finebaum has decided not to run for U.S. Senate in Alabama as a Republican.

Earlier this year, Finebaum considered running for the seat currently held by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who is running for governor.

ESPN Analyst Considers U.S. Senate Run In Red State

"I have been deeply moved by so many people in Alabama who have reached out encouraging me to run for the United States Senate," Finebaum told AL.com.

"It has been a gratifying and rewarding experience. I am also appreciative of my bosses at ESPN for allowing me to explore this opportunity. But it’s time for me to devote my full attention to something everyone in Alabama can agree upon - our love of college football," he continued.

AL.com has more:

Finebaum, who ascended to sports talk royalty as a columnist at the Birmingham Post-Herald and a Birmingham radio call-in talk show host, recently moved back to Alabama from Charlotte.

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He bought a $5.1 million house earlier this year in Mountain Brook, re-establishing his residency in Alabama.

Finebaum did confirm Tuesday his comments to Clay Travis of Outkick in an exclusive September interview that the Charlie Kirk assassination made him rethink his priorities.

In the end, however, a U.S. Senate run just wasn’t for the 70-year-old Finebaum.

Finebaum had said he would decide after the college football season. The qualifying deadline for the primary is Jan. 23.

The GOP primary would’ve drawn national attention with the high-profile Finebaum center stage.

Finebaum previously told Travis that "one or two people in Washington" reached out to him to gauge his interest in politics.

The New York Post shared:

Finebaum had told Travis that he would fully commit to running for the Senate seat if President Donald Trump asked him to fill it.

“Impossible to tell him ‘no.’ There’s no way I could. I would tell him, ‘Yes,’ ” Finebaum said. “The biggest issue is the direction of: ‘Where are we going [as a country]?’ And I don’t like some of that. When I watch a newscast, I know how biased it is because I do this for a living. And that’s incredibly disturbing. But I keep all this to myself. I feel this is a cathartic conversation for me because I’m saying some things that I really did not intend to say when I walked in this room.”

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