Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Grendell to Run for 98th

Sen. Grendell to seek 98th House District seat. Gongwer seems to think it likely that he will get the appointment to the vacancy. Gongwer may want to remember that Grendell implicitly helped the Democrat running in the [63rd] district in 2008 against Carol Ann Schindel, and the House caucus hasn't forgotten that he's part of the reason why the GOP lost control of the House.

Plus, we already have a candidate for that seat: Matt Lynch.

And the musical chairs -- thanks term limits! -- continues as Grendell will vacate a senate seat, so there will be another fight for that.

4PM UPDATE: This comes in from a source in the 98th:
Grendell won't seek the appointment, and the caucus won't appoint him. If they do, it vacates his senate seat less than halfway through his term, which means the 18th district would be up for re-election in 2010 after being on the ballot in 2008. If Grendell is silly enough to go through with the appointment, it will cost the state Senate caucus at least $500k to re-run the race. So, a place holder will likely be appointed, meaning Grendell and Matt Lynch will be duking it out in the primary.
Grendell seems like the type to only think of himself. I hope the conventional wisdom is wrong and Grendell stays put...

5:30 UPDATE: Over on Facebook, Doug Joseph says: "If Grendell runs and wins in Nov. and then resigns the Senate seat, no special election is required. That is one reason he wants a caetaker Rep. until the end of the year."

Also in this update, is a change to the original post in which the district was misidentified as the 62nd...