Former Rep. Bob Barr (R) will not take on Rep. Tom Graves (R) in Georgia’s 14th district, Barr announced today, the Associated Press reported.

Barr, who was the Libertarian Party’s White House nominee in 2008 and had been mulling a bid, said he wasn’t in a position to leave his law firm without substantially hurting its bottom line.

Graves released a statement praising Barr.

“Bob is a statesman, always fighting to empower the taxpayer,” he said. “I am grateful for the positive conversation we had today and the encouragement he provided.”

Graves won a special election to the 9th district in June 2010 with 56 percent of the vote and was elected to his first full term last November with 55 percent of the vote.

In redistricting, Graves’ district was reconfigured and renumbered as the 14th. It would have voted 73 percent for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential election, and Roll Call rates it as a Safe Republican seat.