Former Sen. Bill Frist said Sunday afternoon he has decided not to make the race for governor of Tennessee.

He said, “For 12 years, I had the tremendous honor of representing the interests of more than six million Tennesseans in the U.S. Senate. I pledged in 1994 to serve two terms and then, consistent with being a ‘citizen legislator,’ return to my childhood home in Nashville. After honoring my word, my wife Karyn and I, along with our three boys, returned to private life as active members of Tennessee’s civic and business communities.

“After significant reflection and conversations with loved ones, I have decided to remain a private citizen for the foreseeable future. I will, however, continue serving the people of Tennessee.

“My long-standing efforts both as a doctor and policymaker to improve access to quality, affordable health care throughout our state will carry on. I will also launch a statewide, nonpartisan, grassroots education initiative to improve K-12 education in Tennessee late this month.

“I will never enjoy a privilege greater than serving the people of Tennessee. I know the citizens of our great state will identify a tremendous leader to serve as our next governor, and I stand ready to assist in any way that benefits Tennessee.”

Former Sen. Frist, who served as a faculty member at Vanderbilt University for nine years prior to his election, returns to the school this week as a University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Business. He is teaching under a joint appointment between the Owen School of Management and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

In addition to serving as a professor, he will remain a partner with Cressey & Company LP, an investment firm focused on growing quality health service companies throughout the United States. He also continues to chair and expand the global reach of Hope Through Healing Hands (www.hopethroughhealinghands.org), a Tennessee-based charitable foundation seeking to improve health and education around the world.

The development clears the way for Third District Congressman Zach Wamp of Chattanooga and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam to enter the governor's race.

Another GOP possibility is Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.

Rep. Wamp is set to make an announcement on the governor's race on Monday.

Mayor Haslam is also gearing up for a gubernatorial bid and is expected to get an endorsement from former Sen. Howard Baker.

Rep. Wamp has been focusing on a run for governor in 2010, but he and other top contenders had said they would step aside if former Sen. Frist made the race.

Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons was the first Republican candidate to say he plans to get into the contest.

He said on Sunday night, "I am a candidate for governor and will seek the Republican nomination in the August 2010 primary.

"As governor, I will place priority on two issues - crime and schools - that pose big challenges to our state and that we must address if we are to achieve a better future for Tennessee.

"Through safer communities and better schools, Tennessee will be positioned as a state where people want to live, raise their families, work and retire. And we will be a state where existing businesses want to remain and expand and new businesses want to locate.

"The very first sentence of the very first section of our state constitution notes that state government exists to provide for the peace and safety of the people. As our next governor, I will take the leading in making changes to fix Tennessee's criminal justice system because I believe we must not surrender a single street, neighborhood or community to crime.

"Tennessee has the second highest violent crime rate in the nation, and it is a statewide problem. Over the past ten years, we have not shared in the national downward trend in violent crime. Law enforcement throughout Tennessee is doing a good job with the tools we have, but Tennessee's criminal justice system has deep flaws. As district attorney in our state's largest jurisdiction, I see those flaws up close, every day. We must change the system.

"We must do a better job of holding serious offenders accountable by keeping them off our streets and in prison where they belong. At the same time we must address the underlying problem of drug addiction that drives so much of our crime. We must address behavior among juveniles such as truancy that too often results in even more serious consequences. And we must make sure that our state law enforcement agencies, such as the Highway Patrol, develop and maintain a level of professionalism their employees and the citizens of Tennessee deserve.

"The other major challenge facing our next governor is our schools. In 2010, we will move to more rigorous standardized testing of our public school students. It will be a wake-up call for our state. We must make sure our young people have the skills and values necessary to compete in a global economy. We cannot simply pour more money into doing the same thing and expect significantly different results."