OH-7 & OH-15: GOP Incumbents Hobson and Pryce To Retire

In rapidly developing news, it looks like the entrenched incumbents in Ohio's 7th and 15th Congressional Districts, Rep. Dave Hobson (R-Springfield) and Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington), are both about to announce that they will be retiring.

Jerid at BuckeyeStateBlog broke the Pryce story within the last few hours, with a story now up at the Columbus Dispatch. The Hobson story appeared on the blog DaytonOS yesterday.

In the 7th, State Sen. Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek) is reportedly the favored GOP candidate. Repeat challenger William Conner (D-Beavercreek), who lost the overall contest 61%http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif to 39% in 2006 but did carry Franklin and Perry counties, says he will run again. State Rep. Chris Widener (R) of the 84th Ohio House District is reportedly gunning for Austria's 10th Ohio Senate seat, with former Greene County Commissioner Reid Madden also in the mix. Clark County Commissioner Roger Tackett (D) may run.

Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) is in the catbird seat in the 15th. She lost by around 1,000 votes to Pryce in 2006 after a recount. Fellow County Commissioner Paula Brooks (D-Columbus) considered running but dropped out. Jerid reports that State Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Upper Arlington) and former Attorney General Jim Petro (R-Rocky River) have already rejected running for Pryce's seat.

UPDATE: Looks like Petro has changed his mind and will run?