The Hill News

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) dropped his bid Friday for Senate minority whip, leaving Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) the lone contender for the No. 2 spot in the Republican Senate leadership.

“In recent weeks, I have come to the realization that the difficult and time-consuming nature of the policy issues I am invested in is not always consistent with a position in leadership," Burr said in a statement released Friday. "I have introduced many pieces of legislation, including Medicare and Medicaid reform proposals, and I intend to work vigorously to see them enacted. These efforts require serious attention, and they simply cannot be pursued with the focus they demand while also serving as a member of leadership."

Burr announced his candidacy for whip in October 2011, shortly after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced he would not seek reelection as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, which set off a chain of announcements by Senate Republicans for newly opened spots in the chamber's GOP leadership. The whip position is open because Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is retiring from the Senate.

In the same statement, Burr said the pieces of legislation he has already introduced require most of his attention.

"As interested as I am in the whip position, these legislative and policy efforts are of primary importance to me, and being in leadership wouldn’t provide me the ability and flexibility to commit the time and energy to them that they deserve," Burr continued in the statement. "As such, I will not be a candidate for any leadership position in the next Congress."

In late February, Cornyn appeared to be leading the whip race, money-wise, over Burr. In 2! 011, Cornyn donated $100,000 to his Republican colleagues through his leadership political action committee, while Burr donated $60,000 through his respective leadership fund.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), currently the Senate Republican Conference chairman, has left open the possibility of running for whip.