Hopefuls Line Up For Norwood's Seat
The jockeying has already started to succeed U.S. Rep. Charles Norwood, who died Tuesday after a battle with cancer.
At least one Republican state lawmaker has thrown his hat in the race, and political experts say there's a good chance the northeast Georgia district will likely remain in GOP hands.
Norwood's district was redrawn by Georgia's Republican-led state Legislature in 2005 to include the Democratic stronghold of Athens. But overall it remains strongly Republican.
Norwood won re-election in November with 67 percent of the vote against Terry Holley, a small business owner and Democratic party activist. Holley said he is ready to make another run, the Augusta Chronicle reported.
"I hate it that Mr. Norwood had this illness, and my heart goes out to him, but I will be a candidate," Holley said, according to The Chronicle.
Whatever way the race goes, it won't have any impact on control of the House, where Democrats hold a comfortable 31-seat majority.
Georgia's governor does not get to appoint an interim congressman to fill a vacant seat until a special election is held. Instead, under Georgia law, the governor has 10 days after a seat is vacated to call for a special election. At least 30 days must then elapse before the election takes place.
State Sen. Ralph Hudgens of Hull, a bedroom community of Athens, wasted no time making his intentions clear. Hudgens said he will resign his state Senate seat and run for Norwood's seat in Congress
The 64 year-old conservative Republican made his fortune in the propane business and now operates a billboard company with his son. Hudgens lost to Norwood in the Republican primary for the congressional seat in 1994, the year that Norwood was first elected.
Other state lawmakers from the district also are rumored to be weighing a run.
Without a primary, there's no limit on how many candidates from either party can run, which means it could end up being a crowded field.
On Thursday there is a memorial service for Norwood. Members of Congress will leave Washington in the morning for Augusta, Ga.