OH-15: Pryce to Retire (Updated)

Shocking news from the Columbus Dispatch:

Rep. Deborah Pryce of Upper Arlington has told some of her fellow Republicans she is strongly considering not seeking re-election next year, The Dispatch has learned.

Pryce, 56, who has been a fixture in the U.S. House since her election in 1992, could make an announcement soon about her plans. Republican sources say if she does not run, former Ohio Attorney General James Petro might seek the seat.

Other GOP sources also mention state Sen. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, an Iraq veteran, as a strong possibility if Pryce drops out.

A senior Republican who spoke only on condition of not being identified said Pryce has concluded it is far too difficult to raise her adopted daughter Mia in Columbus while simultaneously maintaining a five-day schedule in Washington.

“I don’t think anybody can talk her out of it,” the top Republican said.

Pryce could not immediately be reached for comment.

But according to the Buckeye State Blog, Franklin County Republicans are having a difficult time finding a top-tier replacement for Pryce:

The story gets better too. Doug Priese, Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party, got word of the retirement yesterday from the Congresswoman’s office. In a span of 24 hours the GOP has already had it’s top two potential challengers declare they wouldn’t touch OH-15 with a stick.

The GOP’s dream challenger to replace Pryce is State Senator Jim Stivers. Unfortunately for the Republicans, Stivers turned the Franklin County Republican Party down on the spot yesterday when approached with an offer to run. Since Stivers is up for re-election in the Senate, and approaching an opportunity to serve as Senate President, he views a run for Congress to risky in a district clearly trending Democrat.

Additionally, I’ve heard the GOP approached former Gubernatorial candidate and Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro to jump into the race. However, like Stivers, Petro officially turned the party down for fear of the district and fundraising concerns in a hostile climate.

If true, this is absolutely huge news.  With 2006 candidate and Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy in the race, Democrats would be well-poised to snag this Democratic-trending seat.  At a PVI of R+1.1, this district split its vote 50-50 for Bush and Kerry in 2004, after Bush carried this district by a comfortable eight points in 2000.

If Pryce bails, perhaps the dam will break and similar incumbents facing pressure to keep their seats by the NRCC will take the retirement plunge.

UPDATE: The Hill cites GOP sources claiming that Pryce’s retirement is a done deal:

Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) will announce Thursday that she will not run for reelection in 2008, according to sources close to the congresswoman’s office.

Pryce’s office announced it will hold a press conference in her Columbus office on Thursday at 11 a.m. concerning her plans for 2008.

The timing of Pryce’s impending retirement comes largely as a surprise. A former leader of the GOP’s ousted majority, she is in her eighth term but is only 56 years old – much younger than many of the prospective Republican retirees.

Oh, I can’t wait for more surprises.  Some call this the dog days of summer.  I call it Christmas time for House retirement watchers.

UPDATE 2: The Dispatch confirms.  Debby Pryce is out.

24 thoughts on “OH-15: Pryce to Retire (Updated)”

  1. suddenly realize that you can’t raise your kid while in Congress?  This particular retirement does seem to be coming out of the blue, although I’m hardly privy to good GOP gossip.  Was this rumored for a while, was Pryce’s discontent with her family situation known, or did she just, um, suddenly decide she had a parenting problem?  I’ve always thought of Pryce as a reasonably clean member of Congress, but any sudden announcement makes my ears perk up… especially since the GOP is obviously stuck without a candidate at the moment, and the Dems aren’t.  As a courtesy, wouldn’t she have normally delayed her announcement until the NRCC had had a chance to do some recruiting, so they could have a better press storyline than “well, we’ve got nothing?”

    The only red flag I can think of is that Pryce was supposedly a “Hastert ally”, and he’s also set to announce his retirement this week. 

    Any of the Hastert experts know if something is in the prosecutorial pipeline here?

    Also, anyone know when she adopted her child, and how old she is?

      1. Yep, I bet that matters a great deal.

        But you might well be right about that 2010 Senate race. She could sort of pull a Blanche Lincoln on that (retire when the kids are really tiny, then run statewide a couple years later). I imagine Rob Portman will be running for governor or for the Senate that year – but if Voinovich retires that’ll leave one big race in need of a Republican nominee.

    2. I was really surprised at how few GOPers voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Somehow, I don’t think their usual tropes (“frivolous lawsuits flooding the courts!”) have the same strength they once did.

      And what’s more, if the Dems cut an ad with Ledbetter herself that can be used across districts, it could be devastating. I mean, this woman was actually discriminated against. This isn’t some story about some ticky-tack procedural bullshit that no one cares about and that can be waved away. The Supreme Court said, “Yeah, you were discriminated against, but tough luck.” That’s a hard thing for the GOP to walk away from, I think.

      In other words, a “moderate” GOPer would have been smart to vote for this bill. And I’m surprised the GOP bothered to whip on this bill, since it was going to pass anyway. The CFG and all those groups who hate trial lawyers must have really laid down the law on this one as a serious litmus-test issue, even though they knew they couldn’t stop the bill.

  4. I didn’t see it coming. But at the same time it makes sense. Why spend the next 14+ months raising money for much of her day on a race she might not win – especially since she’s no longer in the leadership, the Republicans don’t look likely to return to the majority, and she’s young enough to work in another (perhaps more enjoyable) field for a bit. Given those basic dynamics I expect we’ll see a few more “surprising” retirements.

  5. Late last month, the House passed HR 2831, a bill to overrule a Supreme Court decision which stated that a case alleging an equal pay violation on the basis of sex had to filed within 180 days of the initial unequal payment.  Thus, someone who discovered the years after the fact had no recourse.

    Only two Republicans (Chris Shays and Don Young) voted in favor of this bill, which means all Republican women voted the other way.  Now, the number of Republican women who are total nutcases is rather high, including Barbara Cubin, Marilyn Musgrave, Jean Schmidt and Marsha Blackburn, but I would classify others as relatively sane including Heather Wilson, Joanne Emerson and Pryce.  If Pryce was contemplating retirement, why did she vote against this bill?

  6. I simply assumed she was still depressed her best friend in the House, pedophile Mark FOLEY, was no longer around to bring joy into the lives of Republican children on Capitol Hill.

  7. 1. The Ohio GOP is in shambles (seriously)
    2. Brooks dropped out of the race on the Dem side
    3. The DCCC now has some great young staffers with DEEP Ohio experience
    4. The rising tide is raising all of the Ohio Dem US House boats. For example, consider some of the candidates running for the US House in Ohio: Judge O’Neill in OH-14, Steve Driehaus in OH-1,and, of course,  State Senator John Boccieri in OH-16
    5. Three words: GOVERNOR Ted Strickland

    And finally, we have gone from the depths of election depravity under the former SoS “He-who’s-Name-Must-Not-Be Spoken,” to the competence of Jennifer Brunner (with Marc Dann as State ATtorney General to back her up.)

    So ask yourself, if your were a GOPer and the 25% Shrub was in the White House, would YOU wanna run?

    I didna think so..

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