Former Frisco Mayor Kathy Seei (R) announced last week she has opened an exploratory committee and is examining challenging Rep. Ralph Hall (R) in next year’s 4th district GOP primary.

Hall, who turned 84 on Thursday and is a former Democrat, already signaled his intention to run for re-election. But that isn’t stopping Seei.

“Common sense would tell you that when you find yourself in a U.S. Congressional district with a popular incumbent who has served for 26 years, you would not think about running for Congress,” Seei said in a news release. “But sometimes, when you go deep inside yourself to your core values, you discover what you’re called to do doesn’t always make sense on the surface.”

The east Texas 4th district delivered 65 percent of its vote for Hall last year, suggesting Republicans have little to worry about, even if Seei upsets Hall in the primary in 2008.

— David M. Drucker