Now that a Senate bid appears to be off the table for Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), Roll Call reports that the congressman might throw in the towel completely in an announcement that could come as soon as Thursday:
Published reports Monday night indicated that Davis is rethinking his long-awaited Senate bid, and Congressional sources said Tuesday that a run for re-election also may be off the table for the seven-term Congressman. […]Now some knowledgeable sources on Capitol Hill are saying that if he’s not moving up then Davis likely will be moving out, regardless of the fact that he would be a strong favorite for an eighth term in 2008.
Davis admitted earlier this year that he considered retiring before the 2006 election. He said he decided to run again in part because he believed the poor political climate in the previous cycle would have enabled Democrats to pick up his Northern Virginia seat.
A Davis retirement would open up a district that’s been trending hard in the Democratic direction over the past decade. Al Gore lost the 11th district by a 7 point margin in 2000, but Bush squeaked by Kerry by a single point in ’04. In recent statewide victories for Democrats, the 11th has voted strongly for Warner, Kaine and Webb.
If Davis wants to challenge Sen. Webb in 2012, a retirement would make little sense — especially if he traded in his current job for a plum gig as a DC lobbyist, as some are speculating. But perhaps Davis just wants to cash in while he still can.
The timing for a retirement announcement seems strange. There are less than two weeks before his wife’s state senate election and such an announcement would seem to reduce her chances of winning.
The elections for Virginia State Assembly seats are indeed in less than two weeks. They are the most important short-term goal on our horizon, in my view. If these are significant victories in these contests, they will contribute to Democratic momentum in Virginia in the 2008 cycle.
Our candidate running against Mrs. Davis for the state senate is Chap Peterson:
http://www.fairfaxse…
Their campaigns have both run sharp tv ads and despite her warchest this appears to be a real contest. If you live in or near the Fairfax County area please consider lending a hand with this campaign; if not, how about devoting some spare change to one of these Virginia races? You can use the above link for volunteer for or donate to Chap Peterson. He’s also one of the three Virginia State Assembly candidates of the ActBlue slate, below:
http://www.actblue.c…
Let’s encourage both Republican Davises to “retire”.