Virginia: Wolf Plans to Run for Re-Election in 2010
After raising just $2,000 from Jan. 1 to March 31, there has been some speculation on Capitol Hill that Rep. Frank Wolf (R), who turned 70 earlier this year, might be considering retirement rather than running for a 16th term next year.
But while Wolf had “no comment— on his anemic first-quarter fundraising during a brief interview on Capitol Hill last week, he did say that “of course— he’s running again in 2010.
There is little doubt that the 10th district — which stretches from the suburbs and exurbs of Washington, D.C., to the Shenandoah Valley — is growing more Democratic. President George W. Bush won the district by 11 points in 2004, but Gov. Tim Kaine (D) carried the 10th in 2005 and President Barack Obama won the district by 7 points last year.
Georgetown Public Policy Institute professor Judy Feder (D) has been the nominee against Wolf the past two cycles. But it now appears that Democrats have their eye on someone with established electoral credentials in the district.
Two names being floated as possible challengers by Democrats on Capitol Hill are state Sen. Mark Herring and state Del. David Poisson. Herring won a special election in 2006 to a Senate district that stretches across parts of Loudoun and Fairfax counties. He could not be reached for comment Friday or Monday.
Poisson, a former Capitol Hill staffer, was elected in 2005 to a seat that includes part of Loudoun County.
“I am flattered to be among those mentioned, but my attention is entirely focused on being re-elected— to the House of Delegates this fall, Poisson said.
All 100 seats in the House of Delegates are up for election in 2009. Because Virginia holds off-year legislative elections, neither man would have to give up his seat in the state Assembly to run for Congress in 2010.
Feder, who is currently on leave from Georgetown and working at the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, said she isn’t planning a 2010 Congressional run.
“At the moment I’m focused on health care reform, but you never know what the future brings,— Feder said.
