Ford Joins Crowded Race for Frist’s Seat

Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. filed the federal paperwork Wednesday to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist.

The five-term congressman from Memphis is the second Democrat to enter the 2006 race. Frist has said he does not plan to seek a third term.

“I’m excited,” Ford said in a telephone interview from Washington. “I’m ready to go.”

He said his top issues would be energy reform, national security and education.

Ford, 35, is a member of a Memphis political dynasty and bills himself as a moderate. He delivered the keynote address at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) for the post of House minority leader in 2002 and served as a national campaign co-chairman for Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential run in 2004.

Ford’s father represented Memphis in Congress for 22 years. An uncle is a state senator now under investigation for his consulting deals with companies doing business with the state.

State Sen. Rosalind Kurita is a candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Republicans running for Frist’s seat include former Reps. Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker.

Robert H. Swansbrough, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said Ford should easily win his party’s nomination, but might lack the statewide name recognition of the GOP front-runners. Hilleary ran for governor in 2002 and Bryant lost the 2002 Senate primary.