BOSTON (Legal Newsline) -- Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley reportedly is considering a run for governor next year.
According to The Republican, Coakley said "many people" have urged her to join the race.
Gov. Deval Patrick, the state's first black governor, has said he will not seek re-election in 2014.
"I am considering if there are other options that make sense for me but I have made no decisions," Coakley told reporters Tuesday, according to the newspaper. "I am thinking long and hard about how best I can serve, as an elected official or otherwise, Massachusetts."
The attorney general told reporters that her options do include governor.
"Why do they include governor?" she said. "Because having served as attorney general for two terms and understanding that we have a terrific administration with an open seat, I will be honest that many people have asked me to consider it given some of the issues I have taken leadership on, including public safety, education, turning our economy around."
Coakley was elected attorney general in the 2006 general election, defeating Republican Larry Frisoli with 73 percent of the vote.
She is the first woman to serve as the state's top lawyer.
In 2010, she also was the Democratic nominee in a special election to fill the seat in the U.S. Senate held by Sen. Paul Kirk, who was appointed following the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. The election decided who would fill the remaining three years of longtime senator's term.
Coakley was defeated by Republican Scott Brown, 52 to 47 percent.
In 2010, she was re-elected as attorney general.
Previously, Coakley has said she would not run for governor.
In January, at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event, she told reporters she planned to run for re-election in 2014.
She made a similar statement in May, according to The Republican.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.