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Bill Keating Announces Bid for Open Massachusetts District

Freshman Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) will run for Congress in the newly drawn 9th district in 2012, rather than take on five-term Rep. Stephen Lynch, a fellow Democrat.

Seven hours after the state Legislature released a draft Congressional redistricting plan that puts Keating’s Quincy residence into the same district as Lynch, Keating said today that he would make a bid for his second term in the Cape Cod-based 9th, where he has owned a summer home in the town of Bourne for 17 years.

Keating already represents the Cape, giving him another reason to avoid a Member-vs.-Member race in the new 8th district, which includes most of Lynch’s current turf.

“I look forward to continuing to represent the people I’m currently serving, as well as the new communities that will be a part of this district in the future,” he said in a statement.

The map released by the Legislature today is likely to be similar to the version that will be signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick (D). It protects all the incumbents running for re-election and reduces the number of districts from 10 to nine. Rep. John Olver (D) has said he will retire at the end of his term, and his district was absorbed by others in the draft map.

The big winners in the redraw were Rep. Niki Tsongas (D), who saw her district substantially shored up, and Lynch.

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