Former Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL), who lost a re-election battle in 2008 after admitting to multiple affairs and denying that he had tried to pay off one of his mistresses, is hinting that he may challenge Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) this fall.
“I’m seriously thinking about doing it and the more I think about it, the more serious I get,” he told Florida TV station WPTV. The filing deadline is this Friday.
Mahoney was elected in 2006 by a slim margin after Mark Foley resigned after sending sexual emails to teenage Congressional pages. In October 2008, ABC News reported that Mahoney had paid his mistress and former staffer $121,000 after she threatened to sue him, and promised her a two-year job at the agency that did his campaign advertising, for $50,000 a year.
Mahoney denies those charges. He did, however, admit to having multiple affairs during his marriage, although he didn’t try to count them.
“You’re asking me over a lifetime? I’m just saying I’ve been unfaithful and I’m sorry for that,” he said at the time.
He was defeated by Rooney by a 60-40 margin.
[SEE TPM’S PHOTO FEATURE, SEXTORTION: A RECENT HISTORY]
Now, less than two years later, Mahoney is looking to get back in the race. He suggested that, when Democrat Chris Craft dropped out of the race, he started getting phone calls from Democrats.
The spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party wouldn’t comment, but did say that the party will be focusing on the Democrats’ other “opportunities across the state,” including races for the U.S. Senate, governor’s mansion and at possible pickups in the state legislature.
“That’s what we’re focused on this cycle,” he said.
But one Democratic strategist dismissed the idea of Mahoney running out of hand, telling TPMDC that no one wants to see him run. If he does, the strategist said, he’d have to fight a good chunk of the Florida Democratic establishment, as well as angry former staffers who may have damaging information.
The strategist guessed most of the party would rather let Rooney run unopposed than put up Mahoney to challenge him.
Watch his WPTV interview below:
