Scooter Libby's Former Defender Barbara Comstock Will Run For Congress

Virginia State Del. Barbara Comstock (R) announced Tuesday that she will seek the GOP nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R) in Virginia's 10th District.

Comstock has occupied a variety of political roles, including lead investigator for the House Government Reform Committee in the 1990s, opposition researcher, crisis manager, and chairwoman of Scooter Libby's defense fund. She also worked in Wolf's congressional office as an aide for five years.

Libby was former Vice President Dick Cheney's (R) chief of staff. He was convicted in 2007 of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements in a case involving leaked information that compromised the covert identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of a GOP administration critic.

Comstock joins one other candidate on the Republican side. Tareq Salahi, who gained notoriety for crashing a White House state dinner while filming for Bravo's “The Real Housewives of D.C.," must collect 1,000 signatures from voters in the district to run.

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney barely won the district, getting 50 percent of the vote compared with President Barack Obama's 49 percent, in 2012. Democrats have made the seat a top pick-up target.