Several Candidates Eyeing Ron Paul’s Congressional Seat

Two former congressmen and a mayor are reportedly interested in running for Ron Paul’s seat in the U.S. House.

Former Rep. Nick Lampson, a Democrat, eyeing Ron Paul's seat.

“I certainly have an interest in taking a look at being back in Congress,” former Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday.  “I don’t want to go back and get caught up in all the divisiveness that’s going on now, but I would really look at an opportunity to explore serving Texas.”

Lampson, a conservative Democrat, served four terms in Congress before losing his seat in 2004 as a result of a controversial redistricting plan orchestrated by former Rep. Tom DeLay.

Texas Republicans approved a new redistricting map that would create a district — stretching from Galveston and Houston’s suburbs to the Louisiana border — similar to the one Lampson held during his first four terms in the House.

Former Rep. Steve Stockman, a conservative Republican who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state’s ninth congressional district from 1995-97, is also considering running for the seat being vacated by Paul.

Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski, a Democrat, is also eyeing a possible candidacy.

Three Libertarians — 66-year-old Bob Smither, Beaumont real estate agent Amy Jacobellis and Dallas attorney Eugene Flynn — have already entered the race for the retiring libertarian-leaning congressman’s seat.  Smither, arguably the best known of the three, garnered an impressive 23,425 votes, or 18.9%, in a 2006 special election for the remainder of Tom DeLay’s term and 6% in the race for the succeeding full two-year.