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Ranking House Transportation Committee Dem considering run for Rockefeller seat
The ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure is considering a run to replace retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).
Rockefeller announced Friday that he was retiring at the end of his term in 2014, his sixth term in the Senate.
A spokesman for Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.) told The Hill on Friday that a run for the seat Rockefeller is vacating is "under consideration."
“I still remember Jay's first inaugural as governor," Rahall said in a statement. "He told us, ‘My name is Rockefeller, but that will not pay our bills.’ He gave us more than his family name. He pledged his heart, mind and strength to us that day. For almost half a century, Sen. Rockefeller's service to his state and its families has never wavered from that commitment."
Republicans moved quickly to argue that Rahall was too liberal for West Virginia, which has voted for GOP presidential candidates since former President Bill Clinton's campaign for reelection in 1996.
"West Virginians are ready to send Nick Rahall packing," National Republican Congressional Committee Spokeswoman Katie Prill said in a statement. "At every turn Rahall has supported President Obama’s anti-coal, anti-job policies over West Virginia families. So why wouldn’t he take a long shot run for the Senate? It will keep him busy before he inevitably joins the unemployment line when he is retired in 2014 for constantly voting against West Virginia.”
Rahall was first elected to Congress in 1976. He represented West Virginia's 4th district through 1993 before moving to the state's 4th district in redistricting.
-This post was updated with new information at 1:27 p.m.
