Everyone’s talking about Hillary in 2016. But another member of the Clinton clan is also considering a political comeback.
Former U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky is considering a run for her old seat in the Pennsylvania 13th Congressional district. The seat is currently held by Allyson Schwartz, who announced her bid to unseat incumbent Governor Tom Corbett. Margolies son, Mark Mezvinsky, is married to Chelsea Clinton.
“It’s way too premature to talk about this while there is currently a Congressperson,” Margolies-Mezvinsky told msnbc.com. “But, people are reaching out to me and asking me to consider this.”
KWY News Radio reported on Monday that Margolies-Mezvinsky is being encouraged by party leaders and even former President Bill Clinton. A source close to Margolies says that she is discussing a potential race with her family.
“If she enters the race, it is a significant development,” Montgomery County Democratic Chairman Marcel Groen told msnbc.com. “She becomes an instant favorite,” he said.
Margolies-Mezvinsky, 70, was a close confidante of the Clintons when they were in the White House and cast the deciding vote for Clinton’s 1993 Budget. In a March 2010 op-ed in the Washington Post Margolies-Mezvinsky recalled, “I had no idea that when I voted for the Clinton budget, I was writing the first line of my obituary.”
Back then the PA-13 was a majority Republican Congressional District and Margolies-Mezvinsky was the most vulnerable incumbent representing a solid opposition seat. “I still remember how, after I voted, Bob Walker jumped up and down on the House floor, yelling “Bye-bye, Marjorie!”
The Montgomery County Democrat did in fact lose her seat in the Republican sweep of 1994 and has since served as a text book example to young members of Congress who face tough votes. “I have become something I never imagined: a verb,” Margolies-Mezvinsky said in the op-ed. “I hear that when freshmen enter Congress they are told, ‘”We don’t want to Margolies-Mezvinsky you.”‘ “I think the country owes her a debt of gratitude for her budget vote, as it provided the cornerstone for the booming economy that the Clinton Administration produced,” Groen said. Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional seat has been redistricted into a safe Democratic zone, which now includes a larger portion of heavily Democratic Philadelphia. But that could provide a hurdle to Margolies-Mezvinsky running against Philadelphia Democratic Chairman Bob Brady’s preferred candidate, former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel. But Groen said “her [Margolies] name recognition and her star power transcends boundaries,” and would also “not be surprised” if the Clintons played a role. Should Margolies-Mezvinsky win what is expected to be a crowded primary, she could coast to victory in November of 2014 sending her back to the House of Representatives twenty years after her infamous defeat. Physician Valerie Arkoosh, state Rep. Brendan Boyle, and State Sen. Daylin Leach have also filed to run for the seat.
Michael LaRosa
Michael LaRosa is a former press secretary to Jill Biden and special assistant to President Joe Biden. He was a communications adviser to House leadership, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and the U.S. Senate Energy Committee. He was a producer for MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. He is currently a Partner at Ballard and Ballard Media Group, a bipartisan advocacy and public relations firm in Washington, D.C. Recommended
