Boyfriend of murdered TV reporter floats House bid

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Your Buzz: Why name the Roanoke killer?

Giving the gunman what he wants

The boyfriend of the Virginia television reporter who was shot and killed live on the air in August has met with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to discuss the possibility of running for Congress, Fox News has learned.

Chris Hurst worked with Alison Parker at WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va., and is still a journalist there. The two had been dating and had moved in together shortly before she was murdered.

Fox News is told Hurst has since spoken with Democratic officials and lawmakers about a possible run for Congress. The DCCC, the group with which he met, is the national organization charged with electing Democrats to the House.

At present, this is in a very preliminary stage. Fox News is told the DCCC is not actively recruiting Hurst and that despite the discussions, Hurst is not expected to run for the seat -- though nothing is final.

The House seat in the Roanoke area is currently held by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. Going up against the powerful Republican would be an uphill climb. Goodlatte garnered 66 percent of the vote in this very GOP district in 2014 and has never dipped below 60 percent since his first election in 1992. President Obama scored just over 40 percent of the vote in this district in 2012.

Still, firearms is a big issue for Democrats amid a recent wave of mass shootings.

Just Wednesday, a group of House Democrats called for the reinstatement of the assault-weapons ban. Democrats tried unsuccessfully to attach a provision onto the omnibus spending bill now moving through Congress to remove a prohibition on federal gun violence research. And there was an effort a few weeks ago to latch various firearms provisions to a Senate measure to repeal ObamaCare and defund Planned Parenthood.

Democrats would like a candidate to take up the cause once championed by former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who retired earlier this year. She came to Congress in 1996 on a platform of gun control and safety after her husband was killed and son wounded in a 1993 mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road.

Democratic sources note the odds were also against McCarthy when she ran as a political novice in 1996. She defeated then-Rep. Daniel Frisa, R-N.Y., seizing Democratic control of the district.