Tea party activists, slumbering since last fall’s gubernatorial election, may be awakening and ready to challenge the Republican process for choosing a successor to Christopher J. Lee in the 26th Congressional District.

Rus Thompson of Grand Island, a tea party figure who was active in Carl P. Paladino’s GOP campaign for governor, said Sunday he and others disapprove of the way Republican leaders are rushing toward the nomination of Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin of Clarence. She remains the GOP front-runner for an anticipated special election stemming from Lee’s Feb. 9 resignation from Congress.

Thompson strongly hinted that the movement might coalesce behind a third-party candidacy by David Bellavia, an Iraq War veteran who mounted a strong effort for the 2008 GOP nomination eventually won by Lee.

“David Bellavia is bound and determined to run a third-party line,” Thompson said Sunday. “Because of the way Republicans have been treating this, people are talking about a third-party line.”

Bellavia would not go that far Sunday, though he questioned the rush to support a “self-funding millionaire.”

“I definitely have a lot in common with the tea party people,” Bellavia said. “But there is a process, and I’m going to be a good soldier for now.”

Still, GOP sources say the Silver Star winner and Batavia resident was the only one of eight candidates who did not discount the possibility of an independent run during interviews conducted Sunday in Batavia. His suggestion marks the second Republican to issue such a threat after Jack Davis — the Amherst businessman who previously ran for the seat three times as a Democrat—discussed an independent candidacy last week.

Sources said that while Davis did not broach that possibility when he was interviewed Sunday, he did say he would seek the Democratic nod should he fail with the GOP—a prospect considered unlikely by Democrats.

Thompson, however, said he is in contact with tea party groups throughout the state to determine their interest in bucking the party hierarchy in the seven-county district.

He wants the process to slow down and hopes to schedule a March 3 candidate forum in Kenmore.

Still, Republican leaders from throughout the district are expected to make an endorsement when they meet tonight in the Omega Grill in Geneseo. Nicholas A. Langworthy, chairman of the Erie County Republican Party, said tonight’s session culminates a series of interview that included Corwin, Davis and Bellavia.

Other candidates appearing before the 21-person panel included Amherst Supervisor Barry A. Weinstein, WBEN Radio host Kathy Weppner, Batavia resident Peter O’Brien, Ridgeway Supervisor Brian Napoli and former Avon Councilman Gary Wheat.

Langworthy defended the process as consistent with party rules and election law, and “as open and transparent as it can be.”

Leonard R. Lenihan, chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party, said he expects the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to spell out a “process” today to nominate his party’s candidate.

rmccarthy@buffnews.comnull