Kirk to announce run on Monday

Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R-Ill.) campaign said Wednesday that the congressman will seek statewide office in 2010 and will announce which office on Monday.

Kirk has looked at running for governor but is widely expected to announce his candidacy for the state’s open Senate seat. He has told influential Republicans that he would run for the seat, though he backed off that notion briefly last week when state party chairman Andy McKenna was threatening to run.

McKenna announced early this week that he would yield to Kirk, who had said he wouldn’t run unless McKenna stepped aside. That gives Kirk a clear path, and he is expected to make the race.

The announcement is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. central in the northern suburbs of Chicago — the area Kirk represents in Congress.