That was quick:
Democrat Tammy Duckworth, defeated in a high-profile 2006 bid for Congress, will file papers to run in a newly drawn northwest suburban district, her campaign strategist said today.
Strategist Peter Giangreco said Duckworth will seek the Democratic nomination in the new open-seat 8th Congressional District.
Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, a former state deputy treasurer, has previously announced plans to run there and has raised several hundred thousand dollars.
Just last Friday, a Duckworth consultant said she was making calls around the district to gauge support for a run. Either she talked to a lot of people in a very short amount of time (despite the holiday weekend), or she realized time was a-wastin', especially with Krishnamoorthi prepared to announce a huge $400K haul.
This is probably a primary battle many Democrats would instinctively prefer to avoid, but if the two candidates can keep it clean, there may even be some upside in increased name rec. Also, even though Illinois moved its primary from that absurd date at the start of February, it's still going to be early (March), so even if Republicans find someone particularly strong here, we'll have a lot of time to regroup.
Mainly, I'll be curious to see Duckworth's fundraising stacks up against Raja's. She raised a crazy amount in 2006 ($4.6 mil) but she also had a competitive primary then — and a guardian angel named Rahm Emanuel. (That is probably the only time anyone's ever called Rahm an angel.) Can she keep pace with those big numbers? We'll see.
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