J. Paul Vance Considers 5th District Bid.

Former Waterbury Board of Alderman leader J. Paul Vance, Jr., tells Daily Ructions he’s considering jumping into the race for the Democratic nomination for Congress from Connecticut’s 5th district. Incumbent Christopher Murphy’s decision this week to run for the U.S. Senate makes this a rare open seat in Connecticut congressional politics.

Vance, a popular four-term alderman, came within a whisker of defeating Mayor Michael Jarjura in Waterbury’s 2009 Democratic primary for mayor. A race for the open congressional seat would allow Vance to give a miss to a run for mayor this year. Vance’s foregoing a shot at the mayor’s office might encourage Waterbury’s fractious Democratic organization to give him its large delegation to the congressional convention as a reward for peace at home.

Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan (D-Meriden) is expected to make the race.  Holding Donovan off in Waterbury would make him an attractive alternative to party loyalists who don’t want to tilt left in the competitive district that Republican Tom Foley carried for governor and Republican Linda McMahon nearly won over Richard Blumenthal.