By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana Taylor, said for the first time Monday that she "really wanted" to run for Senate, but decided against it because she's dating the mayor, according to reports.
Speaking at a Midtown fund-raiser, Taylor, the former New York state banking superintendent, said she worried a campaign would have distracted Bloomberg from his job, the New York Times reported.
“My significant other is the mayor of New York City, so that would be really complicated,” she said. “So I decided not to run."
As a result, she said, her boyfriend can run the city "without having to worry about this other thing.”
She also said that she was attracted to the prospect of running because she was "so angry" with Washington's handling of financial reform.
“Every politician in office today is concerned about three things,” she reportedly said. “Number one: getting elected or re-elected. The second thing is making sure that their party is in control. The third thing is so far behind that it doesn’t really matter.”
Rumors began to surface in March that Taylor had been approached by numerous Republican operatives from Washington, D.C., urging her to run against U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Gillibrand was appointed to her seat by Gov. David Paterson after former Sen. Hillary Clinton was named Secretary of State.
She has kept mum on the topic until now.
