This scoop is very modest since Edina Mayor James Hovland had already said he was strongly leaning toward getting in the race for the open seat for the Third Congressional District, and my esteemed colleague Joe Bodell all but put him in the race this morning, but Hovland just informed me that he’s definitely running.

He said as much at a meeting with Senate District 41 (his home district) last night, and said the warm reception he received from the state central committee over the weekend convinced him he was welcome in the Democratic party and can now stop talking about why he was changing parties and start talking about issues in the campaign. He said he’ll file his papers within the next day or two and schedule an announcement event soon after. (Hovland, who has said he’ll abide by the party’s endorsement process, conceded that state senator Terri Bonoff is probably the frontrunner for the endorsement and it will be his job to convince DFLers that he is the best candidate to turn the seat blue.)