Artur Davis won’t run for Rep. Wolf’s seat

Former Rep. Artur Davis won’t run for retiring Rep. Frank Wolf’s (R-Va.) seat.

Davis, a former Democratic congressman from Alabama who moved to Virginia and became a Republican, after he lost a race to be Alabama’s governor, had expressed interest for Wolf’s seat if he retired.

But Davis said he’s changed his mind and won’t run.

“A year ago, my plan and ambition was to run for Frank Wolf’s seat if he retired. But a year is a long time to reflect,” he says in a statement to Gannett. “Frankly, I would relish an opportunity to lead on the issues I care most about, whether as a public servant or as a citizen. That time and place, however, is not Virginia’s 10th District congressional race.”

{mosads}Davis says his decision came because “the process of competing for a partisan nomination wouldn’t exactly allow me to run a campaign focused on building common ground.”

The race for Wolf’s seat will likely be competitive. The Northern Virginia district has been trending Democratic, and Mitt Romney won it by just 1 percentage point in 2012. 

Davis, who endorsed Romney during the Republican National Convention in 2012, has been viewed as a likely future candidate for the GOP.

With Davis out of the race, the leading GOP contender for the seat may be Virginia Del. Barbara Comstock (R), who has long been gearing up for a bid for higher office. Virginia Del. Tim Hugo (R) and Virginia state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R) might also run for the seat. Local Republican officials still have to decide whether to determine their nominee by primary or a convention, which has led to the nomination of flawed, hard-line conservatives in past elections for the Virginia Republican Party.

On the Democratic side, Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust (D) was in the race before Wolf announced his retirement last week, though it’s possible others will jump in as well.