Rep. John McHugh (R), the focus of retirement rumors in the past two election cycles, issued a statement Monday in which he said he intends to seek a 9th term in 2008.

McHugh issued his statement in response to an article in Sunday’s Washington Post that speculated on which House Republicans could be contemplating retirement this cycle.

McHugh is considered safe in his upstate seat for as long as he wants it, but the district could be competitive in an open-seat scenario. President Bush took 51 percent of the vote there in 2004.

“Had any reporter bothered at any time to ask, I would have told them quite simply that at this time, I fully expect to be a candidate for re-election in 2008,” McHugh said. “I have never told anyone otherwise and I have never at any time told anyone I was thinking of retiring and, as the Washington Post put it, ‘wanting to go home.’ My campaign is going forward on those matters necessary to wage another successful effort and when the time comes, we will be ready.”

— Josh Kurtz