In March 2006 it was reported that Fields would run for the State Senate seat representing Harlem and parts of Upper Manhattan, being vacated by Senate Minority Leader David Paterson. Paterson decided not to seek reelection to the Senate seat in order to run for lieutenant governor on a ticket with State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. On June 1, 2006, Fields announced that she was ending her Senate campaign, explaining that now was not the right time for her to run.