Sources: Catania is leaning toward re-election bid

D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At large) is strongly leaning towards seeking a fourth full term this year, according to sources familiar with his thinking.

Catania, who most recently pushed through the proposal to legalize same-sex marriage, is said to have made his decision over the holiday break. A formal reelection announcement is expected around Catania's 42nd birthday on Jan. 16.

Catania, chairman of the Health Committee, has made expanding access to insurance and health care his top legislative priority. But some have speculated in recent months that Catania would use his same-sex marriage victory to leave office on his terms.

In an interview with the Washington Post last month, however, Catania said he believed he still had more work to do to try to reform the city's health care system.

Catania, then a Republican, was elected to the council in a special election in 1997. The following year, he won a full term.

One of two openly gay members of the council, he left the Republican Party to become an independent in 2004 because of former President Bush's support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

-- Tim Craig