Rep Fattah To Run for Congress Again, But May Run For Philadelphia Mayor In 2007

• He will seek re-election to his 2nd district seat in 2006

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah said he'll decide by the end of this year whether he'll run for mayor in 2007. Either way, Fattah said, he'll seek re-election to his congressional seat next year. If NAACP President Jerry Mondesire wants, Fattah said he can have a shot at him. "I am accelerating my process of talking to people about the [mayor's] race, and I've been more than pleased with the level of potential support I've found in diverse elements of the Philadelphia community," Fattah said. "If I run in 2007, I hope to be running as the incumbent congressman," he said. The city charter forbids anyone holding one city office to run for another, so City Council members considering the race would have to resign first. But the restriction doesn't apply to federal or state officials. Fattah said he's happy to seek re-election to Congress with voters knowing he would serve only half a term before moving into the mayor's office. "The voters of my district will have the opportunity to make that judgment," Fattah said. He noted that he was re-elected to the state Senate in 1992, after having run unsuccessfully for Congress the year before, and two years before won his congressional seat in middle of his state Senate term. If Mondesire wants to challenge him next year, Fattah said, he's welcome. "I ran against incumbents to get into the state House, the Senate, and the Congress," Fattah said. "I'd be the last person to say someone shouldn't run."  [more]

• Fattah, Mondesire rift runs deep [more]