Del. Bob Marshall said Thursday he will run for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat, adding another candidate to the mix of Republicans challenging frontrunner George Allen for the party’s nomination.
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Marshall, a Prince William Republican, has no formal plans to announce yet, but said he would soon. He also ran in 2008 and nearly won the nomination at the party’s convention.
“I’m taking all the steps to do it,” Marshall said. “I didn’t want to do anything until after the [November] elections. Now that that’s over I have a clear opportunity to do it.”
The Washington Examiner first reported last week that Marshall was considering a Senate bid and that he had asked the attorney general’s office to clarify the rules for gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Marshall, a staunch social conservative, joins a crowded field of candidates, several with Tea Party roots, who are jockeying to stake out turf to the political right of Allen, a former governor and U.S. Senator. Marshall has a long history of pushing a pro-life agenda and already this session has filed a “personhood” bill that defines life at conception.
The long-term lawmaker said he has a long history of successful fights against Tim Kaine, the former governor likely to receive the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. Marshall withheld any criticism of his Republican candidates.
The Republican primary is in June.
