2 Republicans file, 3rd announces plan to challenge popular W.Va. gov. for Byrd’s Senate seat

W.Va.’s US Senate seat attacts GOP candidates

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two Republicans filed paperwork Thursday to challenge West Virginia’s popular Democratic governor for the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Robert C. Byrd. And a third, GOP industrialist and media owner John Raese, said he planned to run as well.

Raese would join West Virginia resident Thomas Ressler and Albert Howard of San Pedro, Calif., in their party’s Aug. 28 primary for the seat. Raese announced his candidacy on a radio network owned by his family’s company, Greer Industries Inc.,

The field for Byrd’s unfinished term already includes three Democrats: Gov. Joe Manchin, a centrist considered the overall front-runner; Ken Hechler, 95, a former congressman and secretary of state; and ex-Republican state lawmaker Sheirl Fletcher.

The filing period ends Aug. 28. U.S. Senate candidates must be residents of the state they wish to serve by Election Day.

While Ressler and Howard are both political unknowns, Raese, 60, has unsuccessfully waged three prior statewide campaigns including two for the Senate. His wealth could also aid his candidacy given the special election’s 101-day timeframe. He pumped $2.2 million of his own money into his failed 2006 Senate bid, his most recent.

The GOP candidates emerge after the party’s top prospect, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, decided against running Wednesday. State Republican lawmakers had secured an amendment to the measure setting up the special election to allow her to seek both Byrd’s seat and a sixth U.S. House term.

During his radio appearance, Raese said he would run on a pro-business platform critical of the Obama administration. He also compared Manchin, of Italian and Czech ancestry, to fictional Mafia boss Tony Sopranao from the HBO TV series. He referred as well to Sen. Carte Goodwin, Manchin’s temporary appointee to the Byrd seat pending the special election, to “Carte Blanche.”

Raese later called both statements examples of his “quirky sense of humor.”

Raese challenged the late Byrd for his seat in 2006. The Democrat won a record ninth Senate term with more than 64 percent of the vote. Byrd was 92 when he died June 28, history’s longest-serving member of Congress.

Byrd had slightly more than 30 months left in his term. The Nov. 2 winner will take over later that month from the 36-year-old Goodwin, who was sworn in Tuesday and said he does not intend to run.