Nevada state Sen. John Lee is dropping his Congressional bid to run for re-election.

As the Las Vegas Sun first reported, Lee has opted not to run against state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford in the Democratic primary for the newly created 4th district.

Horsford, who has strong ties to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), was heavily favored to win the primary. But Lee stated he did not want to cause a “bitter” primary.

“Steven Horsford is a great candidate, and with our party focused on getting Shelley [Berkley] elected to the U.S. Senate, [Democrats] elected to Congress and keeping our majorities in Carson City, I felt a primary with Steven was only going to avert millions of dollars away from our goals,” Lee said in a statement released by his campaign.

Horsford is favored to hold the solidly Democratic district, which stretches north from Las Vegas and includes parts of seven counties. Democrats hold a 13-point voter registration advantage there, and President Barack Obama would have carried it with 56 percent in the 2008 presidential election.

Horsford will face competition from state Sen. Barbara Cegavske (R), who entered the race a couple of weeks ago.