"I want to continue my service to the people of New Hampshire and continue to stand up for middle class families," Hodes said in his announcement. "I will continue to work every day for the people of New Hampshire's 2nd District, and I will work in the future to give New Hampshire the representation it deserves in the United States Senate."
Hodes will make a more formal announcement "in the coming months" and is not currently focused on fundraising or campaigning, he said.
Hodes "has some real standing" to run, said Joan Ashwell, chair of the Strafford County Democratic Committee and a long-time New Hampshire political operative.
"He's very popular and just got re-elected," she said. "He has a pretty good list of legislative accomplishments for someone who has only been in Congress a couple terms."
Hodes, who is just beginning his second term in Congress, won election to the House in 2006, defeating Republican incumbent Sen. Charlie Bass '74 with 53 percent of the vote. Hodes ran against Bass in 2004 and lost by more than 10 percent.
Hodes will not seek re-election to the House in 2010 if he is the Democratic nominee for Senate, a source close to the congressman said.
Hodes' announcement is not surprising, government professor Linda Fowler said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
"I think many people assumed that he probably would do it," Fowler wrote. "He is coming out now to preempt other challengers and avoid an expensive primary battle. Often, in such cases, the candidate who raises early money and rounds up volunteers discourages others from running."
Hodes, however, will likely face opposition in the primary, Ashwell said. Lynch, who has publicly stated that he does not intend to seek the Senate seat, would be the only potential candidate popular enough to discourage other Democrats from running, Ashwell said, explaining there are currently no other "game-changing" candidates in the race.
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H, is widely considered to be a potential contender. Shea-Porter has neither confirmed nor denied speculation that she may seek the Senate seat.
Both Fowler and Ashwell mentioned 2008 Senate candidate and Dartmouth Medical School professor Jay Buckey, a Democrat, as a possible candidate. Buckey, however, told The Dartmouth that he was not considering a run.
Former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who lost his re-election bid to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., this November, is the only potential Republican nominee to have received significant media attention.
Ashwell said this is not a coincidence.
"The Republicans have had a really hard time getting more high-profile people to run for a lot of positions," she said. "That's why you have people like Jennifer Horn, who challenged Hodes, and wasn't well known politically until she ran for Congress."
Fowler added that Sununu is more likely to win election in 2010 than he was this past November.
"Sununu would have a better chance in 2010 than in 2008 because Republicans typically benefit from higher turnout among their partisans in off-year elections," she wrote. "Also, the party in the White House, on average, loses four seats in off-years."
Human rights activist Katrina Swett, who was co-chair of the unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign of Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is expected to seek Hodes' House seat, according to The New Hampshire Union Leader.
Swett challenged Bass for his congressional seat in 2002 and lost. She said in 2007 that she would run for Senate against then-incumbent Sununu and began fundraising, but later withdrew and endorsed Shaheen. Swett still has more than $1 million in a campaign war chest from this past effort, the Union Leader said.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Hodes attended Boston College Law School.
He returned to New Hampshire and worked for the state attorney general and in private practice before running for Congress.
