Connecticut Gov. Malloy Says He Won't Seek Another Term

HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) -- Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Monday that he will not seek a third term.

"Enough already," Malloy told WCBS 880. "Listen, I work really hard, and I've put a lot of work into the past six years; the current eventh year, and I have one more year after this, and I'm ready for other challenges."

Malloy, 61, made his announcement as a growing list of potential Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates has been forming.

Much of Malloy's tenure as governor has been marked by budget struggles. But he said he has worked tirelessly to improve the state and its finances.

"I have pushed my state to correct the mistakes that have been made over the last 50 years. When I became governor, we had the worst-funded pension system in America, and my predecessors had not funded that system, or the teachers' system, or other systems properly, and you know, I changed that direction," Malloy said. "And that rubs a lot of people's noses in the wrong direction – the wrong way, I should say – but it was the right thing to do."

Malloy said in particular that he was deeply affected by the Newtown elementary school massacre in December 2012, but he said the massacre also served as a call to action.

"Sure it affected me," Malloy said. "It also energized me to get the best gun legislation in America passed, and it certainly energized me to get involved in lowering our overall crime rate. Over the last three years, Connecticut has the largest drop in violent crime of any state, and we did that by a third more than the next nearest state."

Malloy is a native of Stamford, where he served as mayor from 1995 to 2009. He graduated from Boston College and Boston College Law School, and afterward worked as a prosecutor from for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.