Looks like the Dems are going to try to keep it all in the family in the open seat R+3 3rd:
Democratic sources this afternoon tell Prime Buzz that Stephene Moore, wife of the six-term Democratic congressman, will run to succeed her husband this year.
Democrats recently polled the district. The result? “Basically a coin flip,” the source said.
This entry has to be considered good news, in a race that had seemed to be slipping away from the Dems. While I’d expect the DCCC would rather be touting Kansas City, Kansas mayor Joe Reardon (or his predecessor Carol Marinovich, both of whom they pursued), Stephene Moore, who’s never been a candidate before, certainly benefits from sharing a last name with the outgoing Congressman, as well as easy access to all the names in her husband’s fundraising database. There’s no word on when the formal announcement will take place.
RaceTracker Wiki: KS-03
Which is an improvement right there. If there is nobody better willing to go for it then she has my support.
there’s also a chance really dumb fans of twilight will vote for her thinking their voting for stephanie meyer (the similar name thing has tripped up voters before).
I thought it had something to do with wanting to leave DC and spend time with his family or some such. That doesn’t make a lot of sense in light of this development. One would think he’d want to give the open Senate or governor’s race a shot, but in this environment and the nature of Kansas, I guess he didn’t want to lose.
where a wife (not a widow) directly succeeds her living husband to his previous office in Congress?
Moore’s comment, I’m retiring to preserve a new generation of leadership, makes A LOT more sense.
trying to be elected from a district once represented by her husband occurred in Kentucky’s First District. Carroll Hubbard held this seat for eight terms until he got mixed up in the House Bank scandal and lost the Democratic primary in 1992. He was later convicted and went to jail. When he lost, his wife Carol (one R, one L) sought the seat, but was unsuccessful.
Mark Green ran for Congress against Bill Green in the 80’s.
Bill Green was a very liberal Republican from Manhattan.
Mark figured that with the natural Dem lean of the district and the name confusion he could win. It didnt work. Bill Green beat him.
1998 Polk County Supervisor
City Councilman Gene Phillips narrowly lost a Dem Primary against incumbent County Supervisor John Mauro… Phillips runs as an independent and wins (returns to being a D) beating Mauro and a Dean Phipps put on the ballot as an independent to cyphon off votes from Phillips.
1994 Dem Secretary of State Primary
Anne Pederson, Lee County Auditor, defeated Marilyn Monroe, then a Deputy Secretary of State. One of Monroe’s best county’s performance was thanks to name confusion with a local official Mara Lee Monroe.
That drops the race down on my list of vulnerable a number of notches. Republicans still have the edge, but a seat which was # 2 on my endangered list is now a real race.