LINCOLN — Former Gov. Dave Heineman, saying that spending time with his family is a higher priority right now, announced that he won't seek a return to the state's highest office.

Heineman, the longest-serving governor in state history, would have been the presumptive favorite in the Republican primary, but political observers said that at age 73, he might have lacked the "fire in the belly" for a contested primary in today's harsh and divisive political atmosphere.

"The landscape in the Republican Party just now is not particularly pleasant," said University of Nebraska-Lincoln political science professor John Hibbing.

Heineman, he said, likely believed he could raise enough money and win the primary, "but needing to negotiate that path amidst the sharp elbows of (current Gov. Pete) Ricketts, of fierce Trump supporters, and of those candidates already in the Republican primary race probably is not the most enticing of prospects."

Heineman's decision leaves Falls City businessman Charles W. Herbster and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen as the front-runners for the GOP nomination. GOP contributors who had been sitting on the sideline will now be asked to donate to them, or others running, which includes State Sen. Brett Lindstrom and former State Sen. Theresa Thibodeau, both of Omaha.

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