Van Hollen doesn’t want to speculate on who could follow Rahm

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Friday he did not want to speculate on who might succeed White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel if he leaves his position to run for mayor of Chicago.

Van Hollen, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), who also serves as the assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said he wouldn’t speculate at this point in time.

“I really don’t want to speculate on that yet. Rahm is still there,” Van Hollen said on Bloomberg Television. “I know he’s been interested in running for mayor of Chicago, but I don’t want to speculate at this point in time.”

Obama tapped Emanuel in late 2008 to become his chief of staff. The former Illinois congressman had also served two terms as DCCC chairman before Van Hollen. Also, like Van Hollen, Emanuel served as a member of the Democratic leadership team as chairman of the caucus.

Van Hollen said he is focused on the elections.

“It’s hard enough to predict exactly how all these specific elections are going to come out, other than to say that we will retain a majority in the House,” he said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after Bloomberg sent out a correction to their story. Their initial story said Van Hollen had been asked whether he was interested in succeeding Emanuel.