Indiana Democrat Tom Hayhurst will challenge Republican Rep. Mark Souder in the 2010 election, in what would be a rematch of their competitive 2006 matchup in the Fort Wayne-based 3rd District.

Hayhurst, a former Fort Wayne city councilman, this week filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to initiate a 2010 campaign in Indiana’s 3rd, which Souder has represented since 1995.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot and talking it over with my family and other folks who supported me along the way and decided — especially considering what’s going on in this congressional district now and also in our entire country — that it was my duty, my job, my obligation to file and run,” Hayhurst told CQ Politics Friday afternoon.