Rep. Zach Wamp (R) announced Monday morning that he would run for governor in Tennessee in 2010, creating an open House seat in what should be a safe Republican district.
The decision by the seven-term Congressman came one day after former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) announced he would not seek the gubernatorial post. Since then, the Republican field has opened up and Wamp’s name had been mentioned along with Memphis District Attorney Bill Gibbons and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam.
According to The Hill, Gibbons has also thrown his hat into the ring, ensuring a chance at some nice primary fireworks here. (For more on the contours of the GOP’s internal battle lines, check out this piece from the Nashville Post.) And as David notes below, open seat fans should probably not get their hopes up over the vacancy in Wamp’s R+9 district.
Wamp’s retirement brings the number of confirmed Republican open seats up to three (Pete Hoekstra in MI-02 and Jerry Moran in KS-01 being the other two), but none of these seats could be called low-hanging fruit for Democrats by any means.
Don’t get your hopes up, but open-seat situations are almost always decent pickup opportunities. East Tennessee is very red, but with the right candidate this could be a competitive race.
he pulled the trigger, since he has floated the possibility of running statewide before and backed out. He and Knoxville mayer Haslem are probably their best two guys, but neither is unbeatable.
improbable win, Democrats held it for 9 or 10 terms before 1994 with a woman whose name i forget. It’s not as Republican as the otehr eastern Tennessee districts. The right Democrat could pick it up.
If I remember rightly Lincon Davis was planning a run as was Harold Ford Jr.
TN is gone for Democrats on the national level and I actually think the Dems are the underdog to hold the Gov’s mansion though Lincoln Davis could conceivably win narrowly. People may want a complete change to the GOP after the Democrats’ debacle in running the State Leg. But bon’t be surpised if Obama choses not to bother with this race in 2010 since Davis and his crew weren’t sure if the President had “terrorist sympathies”.
If the GOP does win, expect them to target Lincoln Davis and Bart Gordon in redistricting..payback in Lincoln’s case for doing the same thing to Van Hilleary.