NLS: Pat Herrity To Run Against Gerry Connolly?

If true, this could be a battle of heavyweights.

Elected Officials in the Republican Party are telling me that Pat Herrity will be making an announcement to challenge Gerry Connolly before the end of the year.

The 11th is made up about 2/3 in Fairfax County with the other 1/3 in Prince William County- with independent Fairfax City making up about 2% of the district. Herrity lost the special election for Chairman of Fairfax County by 1% of the vote- but carried the parts of Fairfax in the 11th district by over a ten point margin. In off year elections, the Prince William precincts perform more Republican than the Fairfax precincts- meaning Herrity is poised to give Connolly a very, very tough race.

In addition to NLS' story, a couple days ago, Mason Conservative reported that "Pat Herrity is now seriously considering running for Congress against Gerry Connolly." In addition, Mason Conservative wrote:

...The reasoning seems to be that a race for Congress might be easier to win and maintain than a race for Chairman...Also, a race against Connolly in 2010 when its the only race on the ballot might be more winnable given the national mood. Plus, its less risky. If Herrity runs for Congress he can still be a supervisor, but if he runs for chairman and loses he's out of the game.

The real question is what will happen with Keith Fimian? Fimian and Herrity are close, and are frequently seen together at GOP events. Herrity was clearly supporting Fimian where there was a chance of a primary with Paul Miller. I'm not sure there is much of a difference between Herrity and Fimian so I don't know what a will happen there.

Yeah, that will be very interesting; will Republicans have a knock-down, drag-out battle for the nomination, or will Fimian and Herrity come to some sort of agreement?

P.S. As the Washington Post points out, Herrity "has strong name recognition" as "the son of the late John F. 'Jack' Herrity, the former county chairman and namesake of one of Fairfax County's busiest parkways." He's also "popular with the county's business community," and would be "competing with business donors who historically have supported Connolly."