Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has indicated he will not seek to replace outgoing Sen. Barbara Boxer, paving the way for California Attorney General Kamala Harris to grab the Democratic nomination.

Villaraigosa had long been seen as the likely candidate for the seat, but on Tuesday, the 62-year-old former mayor said that while he was “humbled” by the encouragement to run, he wanted to stay in California rather than move to Washington D.C. in order to “continue my efforts to make California a better place to live, work, and raise a family,” he said according to an SFGate.com report.

There is likely to be plenty of competition for Boxer’s seat, which is the first open Senate seat since 1992, but Kamala Harris is the only major candidate left after billionaire Tom Steyer and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom indicated they didn’t want the job, with the latter recently forming a committee to explore a gubernatorial run in 2018. Villaraigosa bowing out indicates he’s likely to be eyeing running for governor as well, especially as he indicated his desire was to stay in California and serve the state’s interests there.

Villaraigosa began as a state assemblyman from 1994 until 2000, and rose up the ranks to become speaker of the lower house. He got involved in city politics in 2003 and was elected mayor two years later, leaving office in 2013 due to term limits. He currently works as a consultant, but political experts believe he has political ambitions in the state.

Villaraigosa would have had plenty of support among Latino voters had he run, with 60 percent favoring him in a recent poll. However, Harris still led among voters in Southern and Northern California.

Harris late last year won her second term as attorney general, and appears to be working for endorsements for the Senate race.