CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– POLITICS
July 8, 2009 – 3:05 p.m.
Illinois: Kirk Will Run for Senate, Madigan Opts Out
By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff
Rep. Mark Steven Kirk will run for the Senate next year, a Republican source confirmed Wednesday.
Kirk’s willingness to give up his House seat is a sign that the GOP will seriously compete in a Democratic-leaning state for the seat formerly held by President Obama.
Kirk made his decision after news reports that a potentially strong Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, has decided not run for the Senate.
The Senate seat now is held by appointed Sen. Roland W. Burris , a Democrat.
Republicans are high on Kirk as a Senate candidate because of his fundraising ability — he generated $5.5 million to win re-election to the House in 2008 — and centrist political stances that include support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. Kirk also was among the eight Republicans who voted last month for the climate change bill (
A CQ analysis of House voting behavior shows that Kirk has sided with Republicans on 76 percent of votes that have pitted a majority of Democrats against a majority of Republicans. Kirk has the 23rd-lowest “party unity” score among Republicans.
Democrats have criticized Kirk’s vote against the economic stimulus law (PL 111-5) and his recent comments to Chinese officials that U.S. budget numbers “should not be believed” because Congress “is actually going to spend quite a bit more.”
Burris hasn’t announced his 2010 plans but is politically vulnerable because he accepted an appointment last December by then-Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich , who was removed from office early this year on corruption allegations.
Several Democrats are making plans to seek Burris’ seat.
Kirk’s decision to run for the Senate will create an open-seat campaign in his 10th House District, which includes upscale suburbs north of Chicago that are trending Democratic. Kirk is one of just six House Republicans from a district that voted Democratic for president in 2004 and 2008.
Democratic state Sen. Michael Bond already is in the congressional race. Business consultant Dan Seals, who ran competitive but losing campaigns to Kirk in 2006 and 2008, and state Sen. Susan Garrett said they would consider running for the 10th District seat if Kirk didn’t seek re-election.
Madigan was reported to have decided to run for re-election to her current post.
Madigan would have been a strong candidate for statewide office.
A daughter of longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, Lisa Madigan was elected state Attorney General in 2002 and overwhelmingly re-elected in 2006.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of GOP senators, quickly moved to describe Madigan’s decision as a political setback for Senate Democrats, who are looking to expand their 60-40 majority in the 2010 election.
Madigan’s decision comes a few weeks after she met with Obama and some senior White House officials about running for the Senate.
Burris has low approval ratings, the result of the controversy surrounding his appointment by Blagojevich, who was later impeached and removed from office on corruption charges.
Burris hasn’t said whether he will enter the Feb. 2 Democratic primary election, and on Wednesday bypassed an opportunity to signal his intentions.
When asked about Madigan’s decision, he would only say, “I just heard that. It’s very interesting.”
Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has formed an exploratory committee to run for the Senate and is likely to announce a formal bid soon. Chris Kennedy, the president of Chicago’s Merchandise Mart and a son of the late New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, also is considering a campaign for the seat.
Bart Jansen and Jonathan Allen contributed to this story.
Comments
If Madigan had run against Burris, that would have been quite a choice - between someone who lied to get into his office vs. someone who only got hers because of her father. Corruption vs. nepotism.
The problem for the GOP is that Mark Kirk is a pragmatic centrist, just the kind of resonable moderate the knee-jerk right detests. I believe Mr. Kirk would be what the far right would call a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only)...and someone (like Charlie Crist in Florida) that they think will harm their party not make it stonger. How long before a knee-jerk rightwing Club For Growth Republican challenges Kirk?
Since when is a pro-abortion stance centrist? Who decides such things? I, for one, do not consider such a stance centrist. Through out the civilized world, abortion was considered a horrendous crime for most recorded history. The Hippocratic Oath included "I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion." until it was removed by pro-abortion zealots. A May 2009 Gallop Poll showed there were more Pro-life Americans then pro-abortion. How can you credibly call any pro-abortion politician centrist? Your journalism is clearly biased in favor of the killing of the unborn. Your writing is clearly intended to sway the debate on abortion so that the masses will be persuaded that abortion on demand is "middle of the road" thinking.
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