Dunn Taking A Wait-And-See Stance On Senate Race

U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn put her potential Senate ambitions on hold Wednesday to try to move up in the House leadership ranks.

The Bellevue Republican said if she wins the race to succeed Susan Molinari as vice chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, she’ll stay in the House and drop any thought of challenging U.S. Sen. Patty Murray next year.

If the leadership contest doesn’t work out, she said, she’ll try to make a decision quickly about seeking the Senate nomination.

A fellow congresswoman, Linda Smith of Vancouver, announced her candidacy for the GOP nomination earlier this month, saying she’s sure she could beat Dunn in a head-to-head contest, based on her own 20,000 volunteers from previous statewide initiative campaigns.

“I wish her well in her pursuit of this leadership position,” Smith said.

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, a Spokane Republican who dumped then-Speaker Tom Foley in 1992, has said he will explore the Senate race if Dunn is out.

So far, Murray has no Democratic challenger for the nomination.

Before Molinari’s surprise decision to resign from Congress to take a job with CBS News, Dunn had said she planned to announce her decision on a possible Senate race by June 1.

“But in politics, the unexpected is always happening,” Dunn said with a laugh.

“I have been changing my mind every hour (on whether to run for the Senate) and now this is a brand new development,” she said in a telephone interview.