Mesa Mayor Scott Smith plans to take closer look at campaign for governor

It’s long been rumored that Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, who is currently serving his second term in office, would have interest in running for governor of Arizona in 2014.

Smith discussed his political interests in an interview with Politico.com and expanded upon his desire for a future campaign for governor.

“I’ve told many people that have talked to me about running for governor in the election in 2014, that I’ll spend this year and during my term with the U.S. Conference of Mayors going around and talking to people to see if I can really make a difference,” Smith told Politico reporter Alexander Burns.” I ran for mayor, because I honestly believed I could make a difference.

“I found out that if you work with the right people, if you do the right thing and if you care more about your constituency than you do about ideology, then you can make changes…I’ve got to make sure that’s something I can do on the state level. I’m probably going to spend the next year doing that.”

Smith also added that if he announces his candidacy it’ll likely be in the first part of 2014, and that he doesn’t believe Governor Jan Brewer will run for reelection.

“I’m going to do what’s right for me and what’s right for the state,” said Smith. “Also, my responsibility is to the city of Mesa and to the Conference of Mayors.”

Smith will take over as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June.