SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has announced he will not seek a third term in next year’s election.

The mayor described the decision, which was announced late Tuesday night, as a difficult choice that required a lot of “soul searching.”

Hours after the late night announcement, Johnson spoke to reporters at an Oak Park bookstore. He said he came to the decision after going to Phoenix by himself over the weekend and reflecting on what he wanted to do.

“I leave the city, and I believe it is headed in the right direction,” Johnson said.

Johnson says he’s “not leaving for another specific job or position,” lending fuel to speculation his decision was pressed by allegations of sexual molestation stemming from an Arizona investigation in 1996 when he was a member of the Phoenix Suns.

At Wednesday’s press conference, Johnson said the allegations have never made him think twice about running for office.

“When it was time for me to run in the first place, I would have never run if those allegations were something that concerned me,” Johnson said.

Johnson is currently not facing criminal charges.

His accuser, who was 15 at the time, reportedly broke her silence to Deadspin.com, describing what she called hush money paid by Johnson on the condition she not speak of the case to anyone but a priest or a therapist.

It comes on the day that ESPN was originally supposed to air a documentary about Sacramento’s effort to keep the Sacramento Kings from moving out of town. “Down In The Valley” was supposed to be a highlight for Johnson and the city, but ESPN announced it was delaying airing the film after criminal accusations against the mayor resurfaced.

Johnson walked the purple carpet as the local premiere of the documentary went on as planned hours after ESPN announced it will delay broadcasting “Down In The Valley” in light of a recent interview by Deadspin with Johnson’s accuser and the release of her videotaped deposition from 1996.

Johnson hinted to CBS13’s Steve Large at the time he would be deciding soon on whether to run soon.

His decision not to run for a third term won’t affect whether he’s in office when the crown jewel of his time in office finally opens. The future home of the Sacramento Kings, the Golden 1 Center, is slated to open in the fall of 2016. Johnson lead a push to keep the Kings in Sacramento with a new arena, financed with well over $250 million in public subsidies and concessions.

Also dogging Johnson is a legal battle between himself, the Sacramento News & Review and city hall to keep emails tied to his role in an alleged coup to take down the National Conference of Black Mayors and replace it with a similar group.

Who will take Johnson’s place will likely be a contentious race. Current Mayor Pro Tem Angelique Ashby announced her candidacy Wednesday morning and has already garnered the support of local firefighters.

Other contenders rumored to be in the mix include former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assemblyman Roger Dickinson.

FULL TEXT OF SACRAMENTO MAYOR KEVIN JOHNSON’S DECISION NOT TO RUN FOR THIRD TERM