Carnahan Plans to Run Again in 2012

U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan—whose district is being swallowed up as a part of redistricting—said he will be running for reelection in 2012. However, he said he would be waiting for court review of the new district lines before announcing which race he plans to jump into.

“I do plan to be a candidate for Congress next year, plan to run for reelection,” the Missouri Democrat told reporters before speaking at an event at the . Carnahan spoke to a small group of seniors on Monday morning.

Carnahan, who , currently represents the 3rd District, which includes the cities of Brentwood and Maplewood.

But with Missouri losing a congressional seat following the 2010 census, new Republican-drawn congressional lines send parts of Carnahan’s 3rd District into the two neighboring districts come next fall. At the moment, this leaves him the choice of either running in the Republican-controlled 2nd District or challenging Democratic colleague Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, in a primary.

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Carnahan said he would be waiting for potential court challenges to the new lines before declaring for one race or the other—likely in several months.

“We are going to be watching any court review of the maps that the legislature drew, because I think the lines they drew will not necessarily be the ones we will be running in next year,” he said.

With reelection likely to be more difficult next November, Carnahan said he has raised more than $540,000 so far this year.

“My friends and supporters have stepped up in a big way and broken all my fundraising records for the first half of this year, so I’ll be well prepared to run for whatever the political turf looks like next year,” Carnahan said.