Don McLeary Is Having A Press Conference At Five And So Are the Madison County Republicans. I wrote last night it sounded like something was up and it appears, indeed it was. This is what we know: HUMBOLDT, Tenn. (AP) — Democratic state Sen. Don McLeary, the only member of his party to vote for rejecting Sen. Ophelia Ford’s special election victory, announced he would make a statement about his political future on Friday afternoon. The Madison County Republican Party plans to make an announcement at the same time to announce its candidate in this year’s race for the District 27 seat held by McLeary, The Jackson Sun reported. According to local election records, only one person so far has filed to be a candidate in the race — McLeary. When asked Thursday about rumors circulating around Capitol Hill and Madison County that he would be switching parties, McLeary was coy. “I will make a statement about my political future tomorrow afternoon at 5,” McLeary told the newspaper from the living room of his home Thursday night. “If you miss this, you’ll miss something big,” Madison County Republican Chairman Gary Deaton said. Republicans currently hold the majority in the Senate, 18-16. Speculation of his plans to defect from the Democratic party began when he was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote Jan. 17 for a proposal to void the results of a disputed special election narrowly won by Sen. Ophelia Ford, D-Memphis. The motion passed 17-14, but a floor vote has stalled after Ford filed a federal lawsuit against the action. “The ballot box is the backbone of our democratic society, and if we cannot run it right, then I felt we needed a new election,” McLeary said Thursday about his vote. Meanwhile, local Democrats say McLeary has not told them his intentions yet, and that he attended the Gibson County Democratic Party’s monthly meeting on Jan. 19. “He said Republicans had been trying to get him to come over, but that he was not going to do that,” party chairman Betty Poteet said. “I can’t say what he is going to do. I have not spoken to him since then. The Gibson County Democratic Party loves him.” “I can’t believe it would happen,” Poteet said. “I’m hoping it won’t.” Madison County Democratic chairman Elizabeth Grigg said McLeary did not mention any plans at the county caucuses last Saturday, and said she could not reach McLeary Thursday to ask him about the rumors. Story Credit to AP/Jackson Sun.  ¶ 2/03/2006 08:04:00 AM