OH-15: Pryce To Retire

They're dropping like flies.

Pryce narrowly held on by 1,000 votes last year, defeating Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, who is running again...and Pryce is probably the most moderate Republican in the Ohio delegation.

The seat is about as Republican as the Arizona 8th or New York 24th, both open seats Democrats won last year by wide margins.

The district includes Downtown Columbus and the western half of the city and it's suburbs. The city of Columbus is Democratic, but the suburbs are overwhelmingly Republican. Bush defeated Kerry in the district by a mere 2,740 votes. Governor Ted Strickland won the district last year by a wide margin, and Senator Sherrod Brown carried it by a narrower, but still comfortable margin.

Still, without Pryce's incumbency helping the GOP in Columbus, and the absence of a widely known Republican (their number one choice, State Senator Steve Stivers is not running) Democrats have a HUGE chance of victory. This seat may be a lean Democratic pickup now that Pryce is retiring.