By JIM BARON

PAWTUCKET — Validating rumors that have been circulating in the Rhode Island political realm for several weeks, Pawtucket Rep. Elizabeth Dennigan announced Monday that she will challenge fellow Democrat Rep. James Langevin for the Second District Congressional seat in 2010.

Dennigan is scheduled to kick off her campaign tonight with a formal announcement and party afterward at the Hi-Hat restaurant at Davol Square in Providence.
While the U.S. Constitution does not require members of Congress to live in a particular district within a state, Dennigan and her husband, Dr. Karl Machata, will be moving from their current home in East Providence, which is in the First Congressional District, to a home they own in Narragansett, which is in the Second District.
Dennigan was not available to comment on her run Monday, but spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger said the campaign would focus on the economy and jobs, because “that is on the forefront” of what constituents are concerned about. In the General Assembly, Dennigan is a member of the House Finance Committee.
Health care will also be a primary focus of the campaign, Hunsinger said, noting that while wages have not increased significantly in the past year, health care costs are rising rapidly.
While Dennigan is pro-choice and Langevin is pro-life, Hunsinger said, “this election is not going to be about abortion; that is not going to be in the forefront.” Langevin’s most recent primary opponent, former Brown University Professor Jennifer Lawless in 2006, made abortion a key issue and that campaign and lost, garnering only 40 percent of the vote.
Challenging an incumbent of her own party, Dennigan will apparently not have the support of the Democratic organization. In a written statement Monday, state Democratic Party Chairman William Lynch said, “I'm proud to support Jim Langevin and look forward to doing all that I can to help him win reelection. Jim has been a true and honest public servant who has made a real difference for our state. In a relatively short period of time, he has earned a reputation as voice for working families and a leader on important issues like national security, health care and veteran's rights.
“While I respect Rep. Dennigan and admire the work she has done for her constituents in Pawtucket and East Providence,” Lynch added, “I can think of no better advocate for the people of Rhode Island's second Congressional district than Jim Langevin.”
Earlier this year, Dennigan was considering a run for lieutenant governor, but she dropped that effort after the incumbent, Democrat Elizabeth Roberts, announced that she would seek re-election instead of making a run for governor.
Dennigan has not yet established a committee that will allow her to raise money for a federal race. She is not allowed to use funds from her state campaign committee for the congressional race.
She is facing a formidable political foe.
Langevin, a five-term House veteran, won re-election in 2008 with 70 percent of the vote over Republican Mark Zaccaria and in 2006 he bested Independent Rodney Driver with 72 percent of the vote in a year when Republicans did not field a candidate to oppose him.
An emergency room nurse at Kent County Hospital who also practices law, Dennigan is the mother of four grown children, Darcie of Providence, Sarah of Rumford, Heidi of Somerville, MA and Kyla, of Brooklyn, NY.
Langevin spokeswoman Joy Fox said Monday that the congressman “takes every challenger seriously and looks forward to making his case for his record to the voters of the Second District.”
Contested campaigns, she said, “are part of the democratic process. That seat belongs to the people.”