The political silly season is in full swing and I’m hearing some potentially interesting developments in the Lake and Geauga counties political rumor mill that I wanted to pass along.

With the Feb. 5 filing deadline for partisan candidates to run in the May 6 primary getting closer there could be some potentially interesting races in the making.

I’m told that state Rep. Matt Lynch, R-Bainbridge Township, might not seek re-election to the Ohio House of Representatives District 76.

Instead, he might run to represent Ohio’s 14th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives against incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Russell Township.

The word is that Sarah LaTourette, a Bainbridge Township Republican and daughter of former U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, is considering running for Ohio House of Representatives District 76 and Lynch would rather not run against her.

Sarah LaTourette has pulled candidacy petitions to run for the Ohio House of Representatives seat along with Lynch, who also has taken out petitions to run for the congressional seat.

Both races would require 50 valid signatures to get on the ballot.

If Sarah LaTourette were to run one would be likely to think she could get some help from her father’s connections especially since he is the president of the Main Street Partnership in Washington D.C. that seeks to help elect moderate Republicans across the country.

Fascinating too that Joyce may face a primary challenger from someone who is from the same county especially since Joyce has such a headstart raising the dollars to run a campaign.

Plus, you’ll recall that Joyce succeeded LaTourette in Congress and now the former congressman’s daughter potentially entering an Ohio House race could prompt a primary for Joyce.

Lynch has earned a reputation as one of the more conservative members of the Ohio House of Representatives so perhaps he would get some solid financial backing from similarly aligned supporters and groups, if he runs for Congress.

So far, Joyce is the only candidate to have filed candidacy petitions for the office with the Lake County Elections Board, where they must be filed as it is the largest county of the seven within the congressional district. No Democrats have filed either.

Similarly, no one has filed to run with the Geauga County Elections Board for Ohio House of Representatives District 76.

So it all could be speculation and in the end there are no surprises, but we still have nine more days to go and it should be fun to see what develops.

John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com
Twitter: @newsheraldjah