Booker announced on February 11, 2006, that he would again run for mayor.[25] Although incumbent Mayor Sharpe James filed paperwork to run for reelection, shortly thereafter he announced that he would instead cancel his bid to focus on his work as a state senator, a position to which he was originally elected in 1999.[26] At James's discretion, Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice decided to run as well.[27] Booker's campaign outspent Rice's 25 to 1, for which Rice attacked him.