Republican Jonathan Scott, who lost a 2006 run for the U.S. House against Democratic incumbent Patrick Kennedy, said today that he will seek a rematch against Kennedy in the 1st District.

Scott is scheduled to make his formal announcement at 7 tonight at a meeting of the Providence Republican City Committee at the Columbus Theater on Broadway.

Scott, a former group home counselor, is a GOP activist who is chairman of the state GOP's Platform Committee. In 2006, Scott won a Republican primary against Edward Leather and ran against Kennedy in a three-way contest.

Kennedy was an easy winner with 124,634 votes, Scott finished second with 41,836 votes and independent Kenneth Capalbo finished third with 13,624 votes.

"You may have heard that this election cycle will be about change; my idea of change prioritizes action from outsiders over the hollow and empty rhetoric of insiders,'' aid Scott in a news release. "This type of change is about revolution, not evolution. The system needs to be changed, the people in power need to be shown the door and the way of doing business needs to be overhauled.''

Rhode Island's 1st District runs from the mansions of Newport to the gritty Blackstone Valley city of Woonsocket. It covers the communities on the east side of Narragansett Bay and the East Side and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods of Providence.

-- Journal Staff Writer Scott MacKay