ALBANY — Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, will run for re-election this year.

Kris Thompson, Bruno's press secretary, said this afternoon that Bruno's name will be on petitions that Republican committee members in Saratoga and Rensselaer counties will start circulating next week in the 43rd Senate District. A formal announcement will come later, Thompson said.

"We are focused on government, not politics," Thompson said.

Bruno, 79, had been ducking questions about whether he would run again, including this morning, when he said in response to one: "Everything is timely in this business."

Brian Premo, an attorney who tried to run against Bruno two years ago, has been endorsed this month by the Saratoga and Rensselaer county Democratic committees. Two years ago, Saratoga Democrats not only declined to endorse Premo, but worked with Bruno's lawyers to knock him off the ballot.

Premo, like Bruno, lives in the Rensselaer County town of Brunswick.

The district includes all of Rensselaer County and eastern Saratoga County, including most of Saratoga Springs.