Election Day 2009 Begins to Impact Election Day 2010

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I'm looking around for candidates jumping into House races in the aftermath of Election Day 2009 . . .

A former staffer of Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Tuesday he will seek the Republican nomination for the 6th Congressional District seat . . . The Lexington lawyer is the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for the seat held by Ben Chandler, D-Versailles. Barr formed an exploratory committee in September and had raised more than $185,000 by the end of September.

In Wisconsin, a fifth Republican is challenging Democrat Steve Kagen.

In Idaho, the NRCC is a big fan of Vaughn Ward, and he might have a clearer path to the GOP nomination, with one of his potential rivals withdrawing from the race.

In Michigan, Brian Rooney, a pro-life Republican attorney for the Thomas More Law Center, is running for the seat of Democrat Mark Schauer; he'll face former congressman Tim Walberg in the primary. If his name seems familiar, it's because Brian's brother Tom is a Republican member of the House from Florida.

Obviously, it's not a done deal, but you have to figure if Colorado state senate minority leader Josh Penry decided to run for the House, he would be a top-tier challenger:

Some political pundits speculated when news of Penry's decision was first reported by The Washington Post that he would shift his attention to running for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District against Rep. John Salazar (D-Colorado). Penry said his whole focus until last week was on running for governor and the 40,000 miles he put on his car and the nearly $500,000 he raised for the race attests to that. He said he will sit down with his wife, Jamie, to discuss "the best way for us to serve" in the near future.

Meanwhile, in New York, Rep. Carolyn Maloney will be getting a Democratic primary challenger, a lawyer who raised $1 million for John Kerry in 2004.

11/11 11:18 AM Share