Mark Warner running for John Warner's Senate seat

2007-09-13

Source: The Virginian-Pilot

Former Gov. Mark R. Warner declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate this morning, giving Democrats a solid chance next year to regain a seat long held by Republicans.

In an e-mail to supporters, Warner said he will run in the 2008 election for the seat Republican Sen. John W. Warner will vacate next year after five terms. The two Warners are not related.

No other Democrats have formally announced they would compete with him for the party's nomination.

The announcement starts what could be a high-profile race in Virginia. Two prominent Republicans are considering bids for the Senate next year: former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who preceded Warner in office; and U.S. Rep. Tom Davis of Fairfax County.

Both Republicans say they will state their intentions after this fall's General Assembly elections.

The Senate seat being sought by Warner has been occupied by Republicans since 1973, when the late William L. Scott was inaugurated. John Warner took over the seat in 1979.

Warner declared his candidacy electronically because he did not want to divert attention from the fall races, according to Monica Dixon, his senior political adviser.

Warner vowed earlier this year he would not run for the Senate next year if John Warner sought reelection. The incumbent, 80, announced on Aug. 31 that he would step down.

For the past two weeks, Mark Warner has holding around-the-clock meetings and phone calls with advisers to gauge whether to run for the Senate or wait until 2009 and seek another term as governor. He has been heavily recruited by national Democrats hoping to expand their razor-thin majority in the U.S. Senate next year.

As governor from 2002 to 2006, Warner stitched together a bipartisan coalition in the legislature that passed a record $1.4 billion tax increase to help education, health and public safety. He was ineligible to seek reelection because Virginia is the only state that bars its governor from serving successive terms.

Warner left the governorship with positive job performance ratings from 75 percent of Virginia voters, according to public opinion polls. He explored running for president and his political action committee, Forward Together, raised more than $9 million before Warner took abandoned the race last fall.

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