MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. — Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis says he'll run again — for New Jersey Senate.
The 49-year-old New Jersey native announced his bid to represent his hometown of Willingboro on Monday.
"When I run — as you see from my record — I run to win," Lewis said outside a historic courthouse in his home county, where he announced his candidacy with his mother and other family members standing nearby.
Lewis said he hopes to inspire people, encourage communities to get together and improve educational opportunities, particularly physical education, for children. He said he'll announce a specific issue-based platform in coming days.
This is his first bid for elected office. In fact, he said he had registered to vote earlier in the day but said he had been registered previously in California and Texas, two states he has recently lived in.
Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals and is considered among the best track and field athletes of all time.
In Los Angeles in 1984, he won gold in the 100 and 200 meters, long jump and 400-meter relay. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he triumphed in the 100 meters and long jump. In the 1992 Games in Barcelona, he took the long jump and anchored the U.S. 400 relay team that won in world record time. He won his fourth straight Olympic gold in the long jump in 1996 in Atlanta.
He is a member of the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame and was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame last May.
Lewis will run as a Democrat in the 8th legislative district now represented by Republican Dawn Addiego.
Addiego spokesman, Chris Russell, said Lewis failed to articulate a platform.
"We all know Carl Lewis was once one of the world's greatest athletes, but after a 30-minute press conference ... we still don't know much else other than that he just registered to vote in New Jersey today," Russell said.
