Missed this one Monday so Bleeding Heartland does the work:
Democratic State Senator Tom Hancock announced on Monday that he will not seek re-election to the Iowa Senate in 2012. His decision means that fellow Democratic incumbent Tod Bowman can hold over in the new Senate district 29 until 2014, but it also means that Democrats must field a candidate in the new Senate district 49 next year.So desmoinesdem basically writes the article I would have written so I'll add just a couple bits.
Senate 49 is the only odd-number seat that had no incumbent on Map Day, so the contest will be for a two-year term. Andrew Naeve, who lost to Bowman by just 71 votes last year, announced for the seat months ago before it was clear whether the seat would even be on the ballot.
He may not be alone on the GOP side. Shawn "Go Home" Hamerlinck lives just outside the lines in Senate District 46, and is paired up with fellow Republican Jim Hahn of Muscatine. Most folks expected a Hahn retirement, but he's up and running, so Hamerlinck might find the Clinton-based 49 more inviting. (Hamerlinck was elected in 2008, so his term expires either way and he can't force a holdover in 49. Only Bowman, elected in 2010, could have done that.)
And Clinton mayor Rodger Holm hinted last summer that he was interested in the seat, and then hemmed and hawed so long about it that he skipped the filing deadline for re-election as mayor. Now, bizarrely, he's just launched a write-in campaign for re-election.
No names yet on the Democratic side; I'm still holding out for former Clinton restaurant owner William Drayton.
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