Rep. Tom Latham Has Democratic Challenger

Third District Congressman Tom Latham, who defeated fellow incumbent and Democrat Leonard Boswell last fall to return to Congress in the new district, now faces a Democratic challenger.

Roll Call reports that former state Sen. Staci Appel of Warren County filed federal paperwork last week to challenge Latham, a Republican who used to represent Ames and more of northwestern Iowa.

Appel has been considering a run for several months against Latham, one of Speaker John A. Boehner’s best allies on Capitol Hill, according to Roll Call. In April, Appel told the Des Moines Register she had decided against a run, even though Democrats heavily recruited her for the race.

But Appel changed her mind and last week started hiring a team for a congressional bid, Roll Call says. Appel did not return the site's request for comment last week, but she has filed her candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

Appel is a former state senator and the wife of Iowa Supreme Court Justice Brent Appel. The Iowa Republican says she lost her re-election bid to embattled state Sen. Kent Sorenson in 2010; he now faces an ethics investigation into his role supporting the presidential campaign of Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. 

Democrats believe the district should be competitive since President Barack Obama won it in 2012, Roll Call says. Obama received 51 percent o the district's vote to GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s 47 percent.