By Devan Cole, CNN

WASHINGTON — Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will not run for President in 2020, he announced on Thursday, citing the “cruelty of our elections process” and the effect it would have on those close to him.

“After a lot of conversation, reflection and prayer, I’ve decided that a 2020 campaign for president is not for me. I’ve been overwhelmed by advice and encouragement from people from all over the country, known and unknown,” Patrick said in a Facebook post.

“But knowing that the cruelty of our elections process would ultimately splash back on people whom Diane and I love, but who hadn’t signed up for the journey, was more than I could ask,” he said.

Patrick said in his statement that he will still champion Democratic causes and believes Democrats have a “clear chance” to win.

“America feels more ready than usual for big answers to our big challenges. That’s an exciting moment that I hope we don’t miss,” he wrote.

Patrick, a two-term governor and close ally to former President Barack Obama, had been considering a 2020 run after entering the private sector and taking a job at Bain Capital in 2015. He had upped his political involvement ahead of the 2018 midterms — endorsing candidates in South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey and a handful of other states — leading many to believe he was going to jump into the race.

Patrick, despite the speculation that he was going to run, had repeatedly acknowledged the enormity of the decision.

“It’s on my radar screen,” Patrick told a public radio station in Kansas City during the midterms, adding that “it’s a huge decision.”

“I am trying to think through 2020,” Patrick said. “And that’s a decision I’m trying to think through from a personal and family point of view.”

Patrick had been support from many of the same aides and advisers who helped Obama vault into the White House in 2008.

“Deval would make an outstanding President,” Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s former senior adviser, told the New Yorker in November. “President Obama and Deval are very much alike in terms of their core values, what drove them into public service, their willingness to lend a hand, the responsibility to give back.”