Mitt Romney announced Friday that he will not run for president in 2016, according to the Associated Press.

The 2012 GOP presidential candidate said he wanted to give other candidates the chance to be nominated, after considering running again in the past few weeks.

"After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I've decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee," Romney told supporters on a conference call.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would have been Romney's most likely major rivals if he chose to run.

"I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well-known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee," Romney said. "In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case."

Via his Facebook page, Bush called Romney a Republican Party "leader."

"There are few people who have worked harder to elect Republicans across the country than he has," Bush said. "Though I'm sure today's decision was not easy, I know that Mitt Romney will never stop advocating for renewing America's promise through upward mobility, encouraging free enterprise and strengthening our national defense. Mitt is a patriot and I join many in hoping his days of serving our nation and our party are not over. I look forward to working with him to ensure all Americans have a chance to rise up."

A few weeks ago, the former governor of Massachusetts emerged in the presidential candidate discussion following a meeting in New York with a small group of former donors. He told that group he was considering running for the third time. His comments shocked the nation since he previously said he would never run for president again after losing the 2012 election to sitting President Barack Obama.

"Accordingly, I'm not organizing a PAC or taking donations," Romney said about speculations that he would run for president a third time. "I'm not hiring a campaign team."

Top GOP fundraiser Bobbie Kilberg spoke about Romney's decision.

"We had a long and deep ties and friendship with Mitt," he said. "That has changed obviously, at 11 o'clock this morning."

The Virginia-based GOP fundraiser has since turned efforts towards Christie.

Related