Posted on 01/21/2004 5:26:22 AM PST by Theodore R.
Seliger, Edwards face runoff to fill Bivins' District 31 seat
AUSTIN (AP) — Former Amarillo Mayor Kel Seliger and Odessa businessman Kirk Edwards, both Republicans, are headed for a runoff election for the state Senate District 31 seat.
The special election was called to re place Sen. Teel Bivins, who resigned after he was nominated by President Bush to serve as ambassador to Sweden. Seliger received 36 percent of the vote with 100 percent of the precincts re porting. Ed wards, 44, pulled in 21 percent of the vote.
"I'm just very excited and energized by it and ready to go on to the next stage early tomorrow morning," said Sel iger, who was celebrating his lead with a couple hundred supporters in a downtown bank building in Amarillo.
Edwards did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Seliger, 50, served four terms as mayor of Amarillo.
Other candidates in the race were Republicans Bob Barnes, 49, an Odessa restaurant owner; Lee Gibson, 50, a Dumas farmer; Jesse Quackenbush, 41, an Amarillo attorney and restaurant owner; and Don Sparks, 64, a Midland oilman. Elaine King Miller, 54, an Amarillo educational consultant, was the lone Democrat.
District 31 includes Dallam, Sherman, Hansford, Ochiltree, Lips comb, Hemp hill, Roberts, Hutch inson, Moore, Potter, Randall, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Bailey, Cochran, Yoakum, Gaines, Andrews, Mar tin, Howard, Glass cock, Mid land, Ector and Crane counties.
Across the state in Senate District 1 in Northeast Texas, the only Democrat on the ballot was headed to a runoff with the favorite of the state's Republican leadership in the race to replace retired Republican state Sen. Bill Ratliff.
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting in the special election, former state Rep. Paul Sadler, D-Henderson, managed a slight lead over Kevin Eltife, a former Tyler mayor endorsed by fellow Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
Sadler had 40 percent, while Eltife had 36 percent of the vote. With no candidate receiving a majority of the vote, Perry must call a runoff election.
Ratliff, the acting lieutenant governor in 2001 and 2002, announced his resignation after he clashed with fellow Republican legislators last year over congressional redistricting. He announced in November he was stepping down, effective in January.
Ratliff and Bivins both have extensive experience in crafting education legislation and leave the Capitol at a time when lawmakers are preparing for a special session, ex pected this spring, on public school financing.
In the Tyler, Longview, Henderson district, the Republicans gained 60 percent overall, but can they coalesce behind Eltife, the former mayor of Tyler, now. I believe Sadler, the Democrat there, is a former railroad commissioner, and he has high name ID, which often is critical in such special elections.
District 1
D Sadler 40
R Eltife 36
R Merritt 21
R Yost 1.4
R Godsey 0.5
C Ware 0.6
Amarillo has a long pro GOP history. Only county in Texas that didn't vote for LBJ I believe. The old SOB closed the Air Base there after Amarillo voted GOP in that election.
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