New RMA member Don Johnson reports that Democrat state senator Dan Gibbs will not run for re-election in his mountain district in 2010. A good opportunity for the Dead Guvs to pine that state lawmakers aren’t paid well enough.
Suddenly, SD16 has to look a lot more appealing to Republicans. Last time around Gibbs beat Don Ytterberg (now the chairman of the Jefferson County GOP) by a nearly 3-to-2 margin. But the political environment makes the seat a lot more competitive for Republicans in 2010, and I don’t see any scenario where they can win back the majority without it. If the rumors haven’t already started to circulate, allow me to ask:
Will first-term Rep. Cheri Gerou in HD 25 make the leap? Might someone coax former Rep. Rob Witwer to give it a go? Perhaps Muhammad Ali Hasan might consider self-financing a bid for SD 16 (or even running to replace Christine Scanlan in the House if she makes the leap to replace Gibbs)?
Let the speculation begin…. Or maybe I’m way off base here. You tell me.
Sorry Mount Virtus, but I won’t be getting into SD16 at all – I got my eyes on a different race
Honestly, Don Ytterberg ran a great campaign and he would be a terrific candidate for this race, especially since Gibbs’s 2008 win mostly came off of his 75% vote total in Summit County, which propelled his victory – a non-Summit Dem puts this race in the R column, imo
Peace and love – ALI
btw – didn’t realize Rep Gerou is in the district – she’s a great Rep and could definitely win this seat
Ali, Thanks for the clarifying update and additional info for my readers. I followed up this post with greater detail on who may be in and who may be out. Have not heard back from Don Ytterberg yet as to his thoughts.
https://bendegrow.com/2009/senate-district-16-rob-witwer-dan-maes-out-penry-touts-cheri-gerou/
Don Ytterberg is a good friend of mine and I know that he’s heavily concentrated right now on doing a great job as the Chair of JeffCo, as well as building the Party – we’re both in LPR together right now – I personally doubt that Don will consider jumping in, as he’s really dedicated to building the Party, but I expect him to run again eventually (and I’ll be standing with him strongly when he does)