Del. Luiz Simmons said he will run for state Senate rather than seek a fourth term in the Maryland House of Delegates.
Simmons, D-Montgomery County, made the announcement in an email sent Wednesday morning.
The 64-year-old attorney and three-term delegate will run in District 17, the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Jennie Forehand, 77.
Forehand, a five-term incumbent senator, has not yet filed for re-election but told the Washington Post in July that she intended to run. In that interview she said Simmons was “going absolutely apoplectic about wanting to be in the Senate.”
Prior to being elected to the Senate in 1994, Forehand served four terms in the House of Delegates.
In his email Wednesday morning, Simmons also announced that he was running with the endorsement of freshman Democratic Rep. John Delaney.