UPDATED with GOP Response

Kansas State Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, said Friday she'll run to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins next year.

Democrats like their chances. It's a district that's gone both ways in the past few election cycles, and Jenkins, in her first-term, has had a gaffe or two. (Remember Jenkins' "great white hope" comment from two months ago?)

Kansas’ 2nd District includes most of eastern Kansas outside Wyandotte and Johnson counties, including Leavenworth, Topeka, Manhattan, Pittsburg and parts of Lawrence. Republican Jim Ryun lost the seat to Nancy Boyda, a Democrat, who then lost it last year to Jenkins.

Kelly, the Democratic whip in the state Senate, was first elected in 2004. She's shown herself to be a shrewd legislative negotiator and one of the Democrat's strongest voices on the state budget.  She's a former association executive and a self-professed military brat. Kelly was re-elected last year with 58 percent of the vote in a Republican district.

"Kansas families in the 2nd district deserve a representative who will energetically stand up for their most important concerns - their pocketbooks, their jobs, and their health care - not sit back and block progress in Washington," Kelly said in her campaign announcement.

"In the last few months people from all across the district have been urging me to run for Congress. They are tired of leaders tied to a do-or-die narrow partisan agenda that has failed our country for the last eight years. Saying NO is not enough in these challenging times. People deserve common sense answers and real solutions," she said.

She's the first Democrat in the race.

Republicans were quick to insist that Jenkins can win re-election on her record, and question whether Kelly is too liberal for the 2nd.

"Rep. Jenkins is an extraordinary public servant with a proven record of getting things done for Kansans," said KS GOP Chairwoman Amanda Adkins in a statement emailed to reporters. "Among her many accomplishments, she has served the 2nd District by keeping the world’s most dangerous terrorists out of Leavenworth, spoken up for residents of Treece as they fight to protect their children from harmful pollution and worked tirelessly to make Kansas the home of the cutting edge National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) research facility, bringing thousands of new jobs to Kansas.”

And the National Republican Congressional Committee wants to know whether Kelly will support "the Democrats’ proposed government takeover of healthcare."

“With Congress considering a radical approach to healthcare reform, state Sen. Laura Kelly needs to let voters know where she stands. Kelly promises to be ‘independent,’ but does she have to the courage to buck her party and oppose their government takeover of healthcare?” asked the NRCC's Tom Erickson.