He’s not running for the Senate in 2008:
Rep. Thomas M. Davis III said this morning that he will not make a run for the U.S. Senate next year in part because of what he sees as the Republican Party’s increasingly narrow focus on candidates who pass conservative litmus tests.
Davis (R-Va.), who has been preparing for a Senate bid for years, said national and state Republicans have failed to recognize how dramatically the country’s electorate is changing. Continuing to close their tent to such groups as social moderates, immigrants and those who look to government to protect public schools or reform health care will result in further electoral losses, he said.
“We’re at a fork in the road right now and we’re standing still,” Davis told a room of journalists in downtown Washington this morning. “You give the Democrats ownership by not showing up and defining our position.”
Davis, 58, said his decision to take a pass on the Senate race next year was fueled largely by the Republican State Central Committee’s decision this month to choose a convention over a primary to nominate the GOP Senate candidate in the spring. The choice is widely viewed to favor former governor James S. Gilmore III, whose right-leaning positions on taxes and social issues are more likely to appeal to the conservative Republicans who tend to participate in conventions.
As I have noted before, I don’t consider this to be that great a loss to the Virginia GOP.
