Will Chris Donovan Run for Congress?

His hat is just about as close to the ring as you can get. Both Connecticut News Junkie and the Hartford Courant's Capitol Watch are reporting that Conn. House Speaker Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) and supporters handed out stickers saying “Chris Donovan for Congress” at the annual Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner in Hartford Monday night.

But mum's still the official word on whether the 19-year state rep. will run for the 5th District U.S. Congressional seat.

Donovan told Capitol Watch: "I probably will be announcing shortly [but] I wanted to wait until the budget was done and I'll probably to wait until after the session, but the JJB falls right now so we had a presence now.''

Donovan's interest in the Fifth District seat in 2012 has been an open secret in Hartford since Chris Murphy announced in January 2011 that he would pursue the U.S. Senate seat Joseph Lieberman is vacating. But Donovan has said he wouldn't officially announce until after the legislature passed the Governor's budget and the legislative session ended. The session is slated to end on June 8.

When he does officially, officially announce, Donovan will join fellow Democrats of Cheshire, who announced in April, Justin Roberti of Kent, and Mike Williams of New Preston, in the running, along with a host of Republican contenders, including Mike Clark of Farmington, Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury, Justin Bernier of Plainville, and Mark Greenberg of Litchfield.

Donovan served two terms as Majority Leader for the state house, and has been Speaker of the House since 2009. The stickers, which are guitar-shaped, are a nod to Donovan's rock band "The Bad Reps." A Flickr album of the Reps playing in 2008 at Rosie's Cafe in Meriden is HERE.