There's all kinds of terrific horserace news coming in, and our chances of substantially increasing our House majority are looking better every day. A quick roundup:
--First the biggest news, in FL-15: Florida Republican Dave Weldon will not be seeking reelection. On top of that, we have a strong candidate poised to enter the race in former Brevard County Commissioner Nancy Higgs, who steered the commission during the 2004 hurricane.
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) announced Friday that he will retire from Congress at the end of this session, citing a desire to return to his medical practice.
"I want to thank my wife Nancy and my kids for all the support over these many years, as well as my staff and the people who supported my re-election efforts. It is a very big undertaking to run and successfully serve, and I would never have been able to do it were it not for the generous help of so many fine people," Weldon said in a statement.
Weldon, 54, is a seven-term lawmaker who sits on the House Appropriations Committee.
Weldon is the 22nd GOP incumbent to announce that they will not seek reelection in 2008.
Six-term incumbent Weldon won with just 56% of the vote against an underfunded challenger in 2006, so the prospect of an open-seat race here is very exciting. The district is relatively Republican with a PVI of R+4.1, but it is an open seat, and we expect this to be a Democratic year. Bush won with 54% and 57% here in 2000 and 2004.
Rumored Republican candidates include State Senators Bill Posey and Mike Haridopolos.
--In addition to FL-15, we can now put two additional Florida seats (these ones based in the Miami area) on the map for 2008: the 18th District and the 25th District. Following hot on the heels of the recent entry of Raul Martinez into the race in Florida's 21st district to face Republican Lincoln Diaz-Balart, we have two more serious candidates jumping in to take on Miami-area Republicans.
In the 18th District, businesswoman Annette Taddeo, founder of a language services company, will take on incumbent Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; and in the 25th District, Miami-Dade County party chairman Joe Garcia, also director of NDN's Hispanic Strategy Center and formerly Chairman of the Florida Public Services Commission, will run against Lincoln Diaz-Balart's brother Mario.
Garcia's potential entry has been rumored for months, and it's exciting to see him finally getting in the race. With his service as Miami-Dade party chair, he's a high-profile name with a good deal of influence in the district, and he has a national profile from working with NDN. The 25th District is more favorable territory for Democrats than the 21st is: it has a PVI of 4.4, Bush drew 56% in 2004 and 55% in 2000. Diaz-Balart drew the district for himself, in fact, when he served in the Florida House.
--Up in New York's 25th, following the retirement of Republican incumbent Jim Walsh, Democratic standard-bearer and Blue Majority candidate Dan Maffei has been added to the DCCC's Red To Blue program. This is most excellent news, as the DCCC's backing of Maffei should preclude any stuffy old Albany pols from jumping into the race, and will spare us the pain of an ugly primary. Also, it tells potential GOP candidates to think twice about running in this Democratic district, as we'll have a single strong candidate with establishment support. And finally, it's wonderful that the DCCC sees the same things in Dan Maffei that we see.
--Finally, up in New York's 29th District, Republican Randy Kuhl, who barely hung on to defeat Eric Massa last year and faces him again, has apparently not decided whether to run for reelection. I guess his highly deceptive flyers haven't been doing the trick.