Michael Bond will return… to the Illinois Senate. From a statement posted on his campaign website:
After careful consideration, I have decided not to seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Tenth District, and will instead seek reelection to the Illinois Senate. While I am grateful for the encouragement I have received to run for Congress, I feel an obligation to continue working to address the enormous challenges our state is confronting.
Bond was considered an early recruitment success for House Democrats, but his star quickly faded once Mark Kirk bailed on this seat for his Senate bid and it was revealed that he Bond had only raised $86K since announcing his candidacy in late April. Two other very credible Democratic candidates — ’06/’08 nominee Dan Seals and state Rep. Julie Hamos — quickly pounced on the open seat, so perhaps Bond felt getting out of a three-way primary may have been too daunting a task for him without a lot of money in the bank.
RaceTracker Wiki: IL-10
but I guess we can’t ignore the money. Hamos seems to be a good candidate though.
…in a competitive seat, at least where weak candidates are involved. So I’m not sad to see Bond drop out after his poor fundraising quarter. Hopefully Hamos will perform better. I’m down on Seals after two losses and the fact he hasn’t otherwise been elected to anything in his life, and I feel like a proven vote-getter like a state legislator starts off better.
Maybe it doesn’t matter, this is a pretty Democratic seat, and perhaps either will win in November. But it’s not a slam dunk.
Bad news. I really liked Bond. Seals had better be able to deliver this time.
She’s been waiting to move up for a while, she’ll be able to meld institutional support with a lot of activist affection. Bond was fine, but I think Hamos will be pretty exciting.
And I’m guessing “Representative” won’t be her last job, either…