Posted on 08/29/2006 6:08:37 PM PDT by Dubya
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry today officially set the special election to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay to coincide with the general election on Nov. 7. ADVERTISEMENT
Candidates wishing to run in the special election must file by 5 p.m. Sept. 1 with the Texas Secretary of State to appear on the ballot.
Shortly after DeLay announced in April that he was resigning from Congress, Perry said he would not schedule a special election to fill the vacancy before the general election. Today, he issued the official order setting the date.
The winner of the special election will serve DeLay's district in Congress from the day the election results are certified until a new Congress begins in January.
At that point, the winner of the general election will take over as the representative of Congressional District 22.
If the same person wins the special election as the general election, it will give that person a leg-up in seniority over other incoming members of Congress.
If Democratic former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson wins the seat, it will be up to the U.S. House leadership as to whether he regains his seniority from his previous service.
Lampson and Libertarian Bob Smither are on the ballot. Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is running as a write-in candidate backed by the Texas Republican Party.
Lampson and Sekula-Gibbs both have said they'll run in the special election, even though the prize is less than two months in the House.
"This district has been without a congressmen for far too long,'' said Mike Malaise, Lampson's campaign manager. "This should have happened back in May. It's not just a matter of sitting up in Washington and taking votes. It is a full-service operation.
Federal courts ruled that the Texas GOP could not replace DeLay on the ballot because he resigned from Congress after winning the primary nomination.
Perry also set Nov. 7 special elections to fill the unexpired terms of state Rep. Vilma Luna, D-Corpus Christi, and Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio. The winners of those elections will serve until a new Legislature is convened in January.
r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com
Hmm, this may help Sekula-Gibbs, her name is now on the ballot.
I guess they would have this race twice on the ballet. One with just Lampson and Smither for the regular seat and the other with Sekula-Gibbs added for the remainder of this term. Hopefully this will help SG with her write-in campaign assuming it appears on the same page.
She needs to drop the Sekula and run as just "Shelley Gibbs" for the write-in!
ping
Very slick move by Perry.
Clever move of the chess pawn by Perry. Pity that the voting device is so difficult to use for write-ins.
What chance is there that Ms. Gibbs can win on both ballots?
One will have her name printed on it and one will not?
There may well be several names on the ballot for the special.
Verry interesting.
It happens to be the law in TEXAS the state was required to hold an election this was the least expensive method to hold them concurrently on the same day.
Bumping with the news that Lampson has decided to not run in the special election.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4156110.html
That makes total sense. If voters see Lampson and Sekula-Gibbs next to each other in one race, and Lampson and no Sedula-Gibbs in the other, they have a clear example if Sekula-Gibbs voters as to how to make their votes match for both races, by writing in Gibbs. Absent that, they need to figure out that the same office is involved, even without seeing Lampson's name in both places, and in fact different names on the Dem line.
I don't understand what you're saying. What the heck is "they have a clear example if Sekula-Gibbs voters as to how to make their votes match for both races, by writing in Gibbs"? Could you please rephrase it?
Here is what the ballot would look like it Lampson ran in the special election:
Special Election for CD-22 Lampson - Democrat Sekula-Gibbs - Republican Write in - __________________
General Election for CD-22
Lampson - Democrat I Am A Kook - Libertarian Green Write in - __________________
If Lampson doesn't run in the Special Election, the ballot would look like this:
Special Election for CD-22
I Am A Loser - Democrat Sekula-Gibbs - Republican I Am A Kook - Libertarian Green Write in - __________________
General Election for CD-22
Lampson - Democrat I Am A Kook - Libertarian Green Write in - _________________
If you were Lampson, which ballot look would you prefer? Do you really want your name near Sekula Gibbs in a race right next to the General Election race?
Actually, with Lampson not running, I wouldn't be surprised if there's not a Democratic candidate on the ballot. The Dem backbench in that part of Texas is particularly weak in comparison with the numbers it can get (in Prez elections).
But this is merely talk. Of greater importance (and to tell you the truth, I can't really remember in past elections) is where the TX-22 special election is placed on the ballot in comparison to the TX-22 general election.
The TX-22 general election will undoubtedly be one of the first things on the ballot (after Governor and Senate). If the special election is towards the end of the ballot (or even very far after the general election at all), I doubt this special election will have any impact concerning the general election. As I have said before, ballots in Texas are irrepressably long and quite annoying with tons of uncontested judge races to go through.
I assume we'll find out next week once all the names are certified and they start printing up the ballots.
OK, now I understand your point: You're saying that Lampson's name next to Sekula-Gibbs's on the special ballot would remind Republicans that the next time they see Lampson's name they need to write in Sekula-Gibbs's name. I think it's possible that it could cut the other way, with Lampson not being mentioned on the special ballot confusing Democrats and causing them not to vote for him on the regular ballot. Frankly, I don't think it would have an effect either way, but I guess that Lampson agrees with your theory, unless there's something else behind his keeping his name off the special ballot. Maybe Lampson thinks that it would be easier to get Republicans to vote for him once than to vote for him twice.
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