State Police veteran Toni Gilhooley (R), 60, has announced her intention to challenge Rep. Tim Holden (D) next year in the 17th district, The Patriot-News reported last week.

The south-central Pennsylvania district, which includes the state capital of Harrisburg, tends to vote Republican in presidential elections, but Holden has won almost all of his eight terms convincingly. His one semi-close call occurred in 2002, when he escaped with 51 percent of the vote against then-Republican Rep. George Gekas in what was a very good year for the GOP nationally.

Gilhooley, who retired from the state police in 1998, recently was elected president of the Dauphin County Council of Republican Women.
— David M. Drucker