GOP’s Fitzgerald Won’t Try to Retain Senate Seat

Sen. Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois, widely seen as one of the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbents in 2004, announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in a contest that may prove crucial to Democratic hopes of retaking the Senate.

Fitzgerald, a first-term lawmaker whose maverick politics occasionally frustrated party leaders, bowed out of a campaign that would have been costly and potentially difficult in a state that has been leaning Democratic in recent elections.

Each party now will have at least one open seat to defend in next year’s high-stakes battle for the Senate, which has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent who generally sides with the Democrats. Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection.

Republicans would lose control of the Senate if Democrats gained two seats, or if Democrats gained one seat and managed to oust President Bush. In an evenly divided Senate, the vice president has tie-breaking power.

Republicans are planning an all-out fight to capture Miller’s seat, building on the GOP’s strong showing in Georgia in November.

Democrats, who last year won the Illinois governor’s office for the first time in more than 25 years, have painted a similar bull’s-eye on Fitzgerald’s seat. They cheered his announcement.

“The prospects for a Democratic pickup in Illinois improved immeasurably,” said Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “The Senate seat in Illinois could very well become the Democrats’ to lose.”

But analysts said Republicans would have faced a stiff challenge in Illinois even if Fitzgerald had remained in the race. He also was expected to face a primary challenge.

His announced departure will give GOP leaders, including White House political operatives and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, a chance to recruit another candidate who might be better positioned to hold the seat.

Hastert has feuded with Fitzgerald in recent years over home-state issues as arcane as rules on bidding for contracts to build an Abraham Lincoln library in Springfield. That dispute and other matters, including Fitzgerald’s opposition to expansion of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, strained relations between GOP leaders and Fitzgerald.

On national and foreign policy issues, Fitzgerald mostly has been a reliable vote for Bush’s agenda. But he has strayed from the party line in some cases, opposing Bush’s proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and breaking with GOP congressional leaders by backing campaign finance reform.

“Normally, you’d say you’re better off with an incumbent, even if he wasn’t strong,” said Jennifer Duffy, an independent Senate election analyst in Washington. “On the other hand, [Fitzgerald] had so much work to do and was not going to get much help from the party establishment that has long had issues with him. Maybe Republicans are better off.”

Fitzgerald gained national notice in 1998 when, as a little-known state senator, he unseated Carol Moseley Braun, a Democrat who was the first black woman to serve in the Senate. Fitzgerald won narrowly after spending millions from his family’s banking fortune.

Now 42, Fitzgerald is one of the youngest senators. He said he was bowing out to spend more time with his family.

Sen. George Allen of Virginia, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement: “There are many outstanding potential candidates who will emerge in the Land of Lincoln in the days ahead. I look forward to working with our Republican Party leaders ... to find the best candidate to carry our Republican banner next fall.”

Prominent Republicans mentioned as contenders are former Gov. Jim Edgar and former state Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan, the party’s defeated gubernatorial candidate last year. Other possibilities are businessman Andrew McKenna and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. John Borling.

Among Democrats, declared and potential candidates include state Comptroller Daniel Hynes, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, state Sen. Barack Obama and Blair Hull, a wealthy businessman. Moseley Braun, a presidential hopeful, has not expressed interest in seeking her old seat.