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Texas Runoffs
In Texas, if a candidate in a primary doesn’t get 50% plus one, the top two candidates go to a run-off in late May. I’m going to talk first about CD-23 which is a district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso and covers the majority of the Texas-Mexico border.
This district has been one of the more competitive ones in Texas over the past thirty years. With Henry Bonilla (R) then Ciro Rodriguez (D) then Quico Canseco (R), then Pete Gallego (D), then Will Hurd (R), and now Tony Gonzales (R). It’s currently listed in Cooks at a R+5 district. So, what’s the issue? Well, some people are not happy with Rep. Gonzales’ positions on various topics (gun control, LGBT, immigration) and he got four people who challenged him in the primary. The end result is that he is going to be in a run-off in May against Brandon Herrera.
Mr Hererra is a YouTuber who dives deeply into reviews of various firearms with a good dose of humor. His channel is full of fascinating videos of exotic weapons and reviews of things that a firearm enthusiast might purchase. Here is his statement to his channel on getting to the run-off:
I wish him luck in May. Which brings me to the two other run-offs that have been fascinating. First, the Speaker of the House for Texas is Rep. Dade Phelan from Beaumont. For those of you who don’t know, Speaker Phelan was censured by the Republican party for a number of offenses that included the impeachment of AG Paxton as well as placing Democrats as committee chairs and allowing two major GOP bills to die.
As a result, he faced a primary challenge from two opponents and it appears that not only was he forced to a run-off, but came in second in his race.
Which brings me to the race that means the most to me personally. Texas House District 44 is where I live. When we first moved here it was filled by Ed Keumpel whom I met a few times and who was a consummate politician full of charisma. He was the original person to hold that seat when it was created in 1983. I couldn’t tell you what his brand of Republican politics was. He won his seat as part of the slow transition of Texas from default Democrat to Republican. I suspect he was a rural conservative who cared for his farmer constituents but wasn’t an ideologue. He passed unexpectedly in 2010 at the age of 68 and his son (John) took over his seat in a special election and has held it ever since. Initially, John won by handy margins in what is essentially a non-competitive seat with general victories in the 63-75% range. He usually ran unopposed in the primary, but this year was different. You see, John Keumpel was one of the State Reps. who voted to impeach Ken Paxton, and as a result, he drew three challengers in the election. He ended up coming in second in the race to former Texas Rep. Alan Schoolcraft who represented the outskirts of San Antonio for six terms in the 90s and Aughts, similar to Ed Keumpel. The race saw a massive amount of money being spent by both sides and was fairly nasty.
Fifteen of the Reps. who voted to Impeach Paxton ended up either losing or going to run-offs. That wasn’t all of them, and some will win their run-offs, but it is a definite rebuff to the people who led the impeachment.
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Hmm, I’d be in favor of there being multiple districts having contact with the border.
Looks like it wouldn’t be difficult to re-draw so that districts 11, 20, and 21 also reach the border. That could give those reps more impetus on dealing with border issues.
Let’s Go Brandon!
You have Paxton going after the RINO’s that voted to impeach him plus Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick going after the same set based on their opposition to school choice. That is all 3 of the most powerful state officials weighing in on these state house races. It takes a lot to push out an incumbent and those three have a lot of push. In Texas, the Lt. Gov is very power as they control all action in the state senate.
Five districts run from San Antonio to the Valley (15, 16, 23, 28, and 34). All but 16 run from the San Antonio suburbs to the border (16 is El Paso). I live north and east of San Antonio, but am represented by a Democrat from the Valley, much like 28 and 34.
I should add that Keumpel has opposed the school choice initiative by Gov. Abbott. Some of the curious campaign signs for Kuempel highlight Schoolcraft’s “liberal” voting record from 20-30 years ago and signs that say that the Teachers Support Kuempel (not sure that is a positive thing IMO).
Right, I just meant that if #23 were slightly re-drawn, there could be more districts where the reps might have more direct concern over border issues. Which could benefit the whole country, really.
If a district is in Texas – except maybe the panhandle, and kinda doubt that – reps are going to have direct concerns over border issues. It is not limited to the districts which border the Rio Grande. My rep has something about border issues virtually every week in his e-mail newsletter and we are up on the Texas Gulf Coast. Even though the border is 400 miles away it is only a six-hour drive. Shorter if the driver ignores speed laws.
What’s more embarrassing? That Ed Keumpel lost to silhouette guy or that the media you cribbed the results from couldn’t find a picture of a guy (Alan Schoolcraft) who’s been in politics since 1981?
I got it from Ballotopedia in case you were wondering. I was surprised that they didn’t have a photo of him. One of Keumpel’s attacks on Scboolcraft is that when he was in the Texas House back in the 90s, he voted for Democrat Speakers like that was some terrible thing. It completely ignores that prior to Tom Delay organizing to get Republicans to run and win the Democrats controlled the Texas House. As late as 1998 the Democrats held an 82-68 seat advantage. This wouldn’t flip until 2003 after the massive redistricting fight that saw the Democrats leave for first Oklahoma and then New Mexico preventing a quorum to do business.