While we're still waiting for an official announcement, sources close to Illinois Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson say she's decided to seek the seat currently held by Republican Jerry Weller. Halvorson has been heavily recruited over the past few weeks by the DCCC and EMILY's List.
Update: Politico has the details:
In a big recruiting coup for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Illinois Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D) has decided to run for the seat of retiring Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.).
“She sees this as a historic time in Washington, and she wants to be a part of it,” said one Democratic operative familiar with her decision. “She wants to bring the things she accomplished in Illinois to Washington.”
However, just last night the Politico was reporting that a Halvorson run was unlikely. Their source was an Illinois Democratic operative who was only able to parrot Halvorson's own comments on the matter.
Compare Politico's “Illinois Democratic operative” (October 1):
It’s hard to be one of 435 when you can be the first woman state Senate president in Illinois
to Debbie Halvorson herself (September 19):
I don't know if I want to be one person out of 435. Compared to, possibly, being the first-ever woman Senate president, I don't know. It's a big decision.
IL-10 is the Mark Kirk District, Weller represents IL-11
The news just keep getting better and better for us and worse for them!
Typo corrected
Republicans: “We have a small wave of great recruitments that we are responsible for coming out soon.”
News hits on Tuesday
“Halvorson to run for IL-11!”
It just made me laugh. Republicans can’t even get their news right.
…can I just express my derision for the Politico once again? My guess is they grabbed Halvorson’s comments, called it an “unnamed Democratic operative,” and “reported” it. I really can’t wait until they get caught with an unattributed “scoop” that turns out utterly wrong.
In NY- we targeted the entire GOP Delegation in Upstate NY except for John McHugh.
we won Sherry Boehlert’s open seat,unseated Sue Kelly and unseated John Sweeney. Walsh,Kuhl,and Reynolds narrowly survived.
In PA- we targeted Hart,Gerlach,Weldon,Fitzpatrick,and Sherwood, All of them except for Gerlach went down.
In 2008- Which is going to be a Firewall States for the Democrats. Which state will have more than one House seat Democrats pick up.
Florida- FL-8(Keller),FL-13(Buchanan)
Illinios- IL-10(Kirk)IL-11(OPEN-Weller)
Michigan- MI-7(Walberg),MI-9(Knollenberg).
Minnesota- MN-3(OPEN-Ramstad) and MN-6(Bachmann)
New York- NY-25(Walsh),NY-26(Reynolds),and NY-29(Kuhl).
Ohio- OH-1(Chabot),OH-2(Schmidt),OH-15-(OPEN-Pryce),OH-16(Regula).
Pennsylvania- PA-3(English),PA-6(Gerlach),PA-15(Dent)
….that trainwreck that is Illinois’ Democratic-controlled Legislature will have countercoattail effects on our efforts to win this seat, particularly if the state Senate Majority Leader is our candidate?