Kathleen Matthews, the wife of MSNBC host Chris Matthews, officially launched her campaign for Congress Wednesday, with a morning announcement in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Matthews, a former public relations executive at Marriott and known locally as a former local news anchor in the Washington DC market, is running in the Democratic primary in Maryland’s eighth Congressional district.
Asked by reporters if she’d gotten any advice from her husband, Matthews quipped: “He said to smile.”
MSNBC sources have said every effort would be taken to stay fully transparent should the race be mentioned on air. The network tells TVNewser Matthews will address his wife’s campaign–and how it will affect his show, tonight.
Meanwhile, friends of the family wonder if the Hardball host might be a tough campaign spouse–or, as the Washington Post put it earlier this year, the “most challenging campaign spouse since Bill Clinton“:
“Pity the poor campaign manager,” says Carol Joynt, a longtime friend of the Matthews’ who was once a booker for Hardball. “Though of course he’ll mean well.”