The joke around the State House Thursday was that there are may be three or four people not considering a run for the 2nd Congressional District. The mad scramble was touched off by the seat’s current holder U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, who announced he was launching an exploratory committee to run for governor.

One name was consistently mentioned: House Rep. Kenneth Fredette, the Republican minority leader.

You can scratch off Fredette. On Friday, David Sorensen, communications director for the House Republican Office, released the following statement from Fredette: 

“With a daughter starting her first year of college, a son starting his freshman year of high school in the fall, and a wife dedicated to teaching her first grade class here in Maine, now is not the time for me to run for Congress.  I will instead focus on my family, my law practice, my district, and the important matters before the Maine Legislature.”