Former GOP state Rep. Ron Erhardt of Edina is exploring a run for his old House seat as a Democrat.
“I’m looking to run. I raised money earlier in the year,” said Erhardt today in a telephone interview with PIM…
…Erhardt said it appears his chances of winning are strongest by running as a Democrat.
“I’m exploring the possibility to run as a Democrat. If that doesn’t work I’ll run as an independent,” Erhardt said.
Sounds like Erhardt is pretty committed to running, he’s just trying to figure out which party label to run under. If he decides to run as a Democrat, however, he’ll have competition. 2008 DFL endorsed candidate Kevin Staunton is running again.
Looks like Edina is going to be a critical battleground once again in 2010.
I hope he runs as in Independent. He'd win.
except that he ran as an independent in 2008 and lost…
zing
Ron Erhardt is wonderful. I hope he wins.
If there's a 3 person race, the republican will win reelection. Otherwise, the DFLer will win.
I would never vote for someone who is a Republican that chooses another Party just to "win". Same goes for anyone else playing that game. Tired of politicians lying.
Erhardt is a moderate, who was a part of the ORF. All of those guys are being beaten from the party. Your assertion that he is switching "Just to win" is likely not true.
Lojasmo - for once, I get to agree with you. Erhardt hasn't changed, the MN GOP has. He used to be a hell of a legislator for his district, and he still would be if given the chance.
Kevin Staunton is running again for the DFL in SD41A. I doubt that he would have run again if there was any inclination that he would have a primary battle with Erhardt. Erhardt also has a supporter who put up a website called Edinamoderates.com. The content is almost exclusively from the 2008 campaign season. However, the site has been updated as recently as June 2009.
It look to me like Erhardt will most likely run as an Independent again. But I'm not sure why he expects a different conclusion than in 2008. Especially if it is a three way race with the exact same candidates. 2008 was a terrible year for Republicans and Downey (R) won. 2010 will not have Obama coattails or any other good new for Erhardt or the Dems.
Ron could provide alot of expertise and leadership in the civic area and I wish he would concentrate his efforts outside of the political arena.
Cheers. We should have an ale sometime.