Judy Feder doesn’t give up.

Despite losing in November 2006 to 14-term incumbent Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va., L ’65) for the House seat representing Virginia’s 10th District, Feder, dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, announced last Monday that she will throw her hat in again for the 2008 race, a contest that may again pit Hoya versus Hoya.

Feder, a Democrat, said that she submitted her candidacy papers in December and again on May 25 to declare her intent to run in the election.

During the last congressional election, Feder raised about $1.5 million for her campaign and gained 41 percent of the district’s vote against Wolf’s 57 percent.

Feder said that even after the loss, she continues to feel that the 10th District, which includes several suburbs of D.C., needs a change in the representation. She said that many in her community have continued to express their support after her loss.

“Everywhere I go, people say, `Please run again,'” she said. “They know change needs to happen . [and] they know that I represent the direction that the nation [should be] going.”

During last year’s election, Feder took a leave of absence as dean for about three months. She said she expects to take the same amount of time off next year to participate fully in her campaign.

Some of the issues that Feder plans to emphasize in her campaign include the war in Iraq, healthcare and student loans. She said she feels strongly about changing the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq, something she also stressed during last year’s campaign.

“I believe that these young people are not being well-served by the president’s policy in Iraq,” she said. “In recent votes, Frank Wolf has had the opportunity to change this policy, and he has failed us.”

Ginny Peters, chairperson of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee – some cities in the county are in the 10th District – said that Feder may have lost last year’s election because that area of Virginia is known to be more conservative and has historically sided with Republicans.

Dan Scandling, Wolf’s campaign spokesperson, said that the Wolf campaign has known of Feder’s intention to run again since December.

Wolf, the longest serving congressman in the Virginia delegation, has long been active in international human rights issues, in addition to being a member of the influential House Appropriations Committee. Wolf has also worked to improve transportation within his district.

“[He’s] well-respected and has a reputation for getting things done, whether it is locally, nationally or internationally,” Scandling said.

As of now, according to the Federal Election Commission’s Web site, Feder is the only Democratic candidate registered to run for the 10th District’s House seat next year. The Federal Election Commission said that Republican Vern McKinley, who has worked as a policy advisor since 1999, has filed a statement of candidacy for Virginia’s 10th District in the 2008 elections, which would set him against Wolf in the Republican primaries.

Paul Protic, chairman of Loudoun County Republican Committee, which organizes the party’s affairs in the Loudoun County section of the 10th District, said that Feder could have a harder time against Wolf in next year’s general election – if both either win their primaries or are unopposed – since in 2006, she had the advantage of being in a party that was expected to win a significant number of congressional seats.

Peters said, however, that candidates running for a second time normally do better than they did in the first election.

“It’s called name recognition,” she said. “[Feder] raised $1.5 million, which is unheard of [for a first-time candidate].”

Still 17 months from the election, Feder expressed enthusiasm for her upcoming campaign.

“I feel as strongly as I did,” Feder said. “We need a change in the representation of the 10th District.”