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Seifert joins the governor or bust gang

State Rep. Marty Seifert, a Republican candidate for governor, tells his local newspaper that he won't run for his House seat next year.

October 16, 2009 at 4:37PM

By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, will announce at the Capitol today that he's joining the club of folks who will not seek their current political jobs if they do not win their party's nod for governor~~, according to a report in his hometown paper.~~ (Seifert first made his announcement this morning in Marshall and repeated it this afternoon in St. Paul.)

Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, made clear Monday that she would not try for re-election to the House and would concentrate instead on winning the governorship. Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, a Democrat who has been running for governor since 2007, has long said she would not seek re-election.

According to a piece in the Marshall Independent this morning, Seifert made his decision "a long time ago" but announced it this morning in his hometown. He will follow up with a similar announcement at the state Capitol at 1:30 p.m.

From the Marshall piece:

Seifert said the district and voters deserved to know his plans so that candidates could step forward and have time to organize a campaign.

"I will not mention specific names...," Seifert said of possible candidates for the District 21A position. "We've got people interested and some fantastic folks..."

While Seifert won each of his seven elections handily, he stressed "it's going to have to be earned."

We'll update this post after the Capitol news conference.

Update:

At his Capitol news conference, Seifert said he made his decision during the session but announced it today largely because his children had the day off so his wife and small children could join him as he announced.

"I'm running for governor, I'm not running for anything else," he said. He took the occasionally rumored idea that he would run for Congress someday off the table.

He said he wouldn't endorse a House replacement before his party does next year.

"I don't like king-making," he said.

Seifert said his "shelf life" in the House was up said some of the long-timers in the Minnesota House are among his closest friends. The 37-year-old particularly praised Rep. Phyllis Kahn, a very liberal Democrat from Minneapolis, who, he noted was "elected the year I was born."