Curt Schroder
Republican
Curt Schroder, a veteran member of the Pennsylvania state House, is making preparations to run for the 6th District U.S. House seat that Republican Rep.
Jim Gerlach is expected to leave open to run for governor.
Schroder organized a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission that will allow him to raise money for a campaign in the 6th, an area of southeastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia that has been trending Democratic of late.
Schroder, who couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, was first elected in 1994 from a legislative district in Chester County, which is one of four counties from which the 6th claims territory. The Democrats haven't fielded a candidate against Schroder in any of his seven re-election campaigns.
But Schroder would be put to the test in the 6th District, where Barack Obama took 58 percent of the vote in the 2008 election. Pennsylvania's 6th is one of just six districts that voted for Obama and also for John Kerry in 2004 that is presently represented in the House by a Republican.
Gerlach bucked the Democratic trend in his district, but just barely: he took 51 percent of the vote in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and 52 percent of the vote in 2008.
Democrat Doug Pike, a former editorial writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, is seeking the seat and plans to spend $1 million of his own money on the race.
It's likely that other Democrats and Republicans will enter the race if and when Gerlach takes his campaign for governor from an "exploratory" phase to an official phase. Open seats often draw multiple candidates.
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