Immediately after Judd Gregg was formally nominated to Commerce Secretary, word came out that Paul Hodes would run for the seat Bonnie Newman, Gregg's appointed replacement, will allegedly be vacating in 2010.
Yesterday, Hodes made it official in an announcement at Blue Hampshire:
It is with the stories of people like Anne Marie Morse, Chris Howe, and thousands of New Hampshire families struggling in this difficult economy in mind that I announce today that I will run for the United States Senate in 2010 to continue to keep our state and our nation moving forward.
I want to continue my service to the people of New Hampshire and continue to stand up for middle class families. I will continue to work every day for the people of New Hampshire's second district and I will work in the future to give New Hampshire the representation it deserves in the United States Senate.
According to the Washington Post:
The Republican field is far less clear with two names mentioned in the early going: [Former Sen. John E.] Sununu and former Gov. Steve Merrill.
Sununu served in the House from 1996 to 2002 and then a single term in the Senate. His father, also named John, is a legend in New Hampshire politics, having served as governor and White House chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush. Sununu currently lives in Washington, however, and may not want to uproot his family to return to the state and run.
Merrill spent four years in the mid to late eighties as New Hampshire's attorney general before being elected governor in 1992. He retired from that office in 1996 and was replaced by Shaheen. He did not return an email seeking to gauge his interest in the post.
Former NH-02 Rep. Charlie Bass, who Hodes defeated in 2006, has also been mentioned, but other speculation is that he would run for his old seat as Hodes is moving on from it.
On the Democratic side, Katrina Swett, daughter of the late Rep. Tom Lantos and wife of former Rep. Dick Swett (yes, yes, we know), will apparently run in NH-02. Swett was the Democratic nominee in the district in 2002 and briefly campaigned for Senate in 2007 before now-Senator Jeanne Shaheen entered the race. During that race, her 2004 support and late abandonment of Joe Lieberman drew criticism here at Daily Kos, as did her contention that her financial advantage would be decisive. It remains to be seen who else will enter that race.