Posted on 10/24/2003 8:53:35 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Jockeying for congressional races will affect other races
DAVE MCNEELY Thursday, October 23, 2003
So, U.S. Rep. Jim Turner might run for governor in 2006? Or the U.S. Senate? Or lieutenant governor?
That's where Turner says his interests lie if the Republican re-redistricting knife job on his 2nd District in East Texas is upheld by the Justice Department and federal courts.
Turner, D-Crockett, dismissed the rumor that he might seek a return to the Texas Senate against Republican Sen. Todd Staples of Palestine.
Elections in a time of uncertainty over district boundaries are nervous affairs. Democrats are telling their Congress members to plan on running for re-election in their existing districts and hope they're right.
"Our congressmen are very confident that the judges will throw out the Republicans' illegal map faster than a Roger Clemens fastball," said Sean Byrne, Texas Democratic Party spokesman. "You simply can't cancel the votes of 3.6 million minorities and expect judges not to notice."
But with the districts still in doubt as the December filing period approaches, several congressional incumbents, and some who hope to replace them, are doing some heavy posturing. Some, including U.S. Reps. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, and Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, say they plan to run, regardless. But if the lines aren't final by the filing deadline, some who might want to run for Congress might have to choose something else.
Some Republican legislators, including state Rep. Wohlgemuth , have already announced they'll run for Congress (Wohlgemuth in Edwards' new 17th District). State Rep. Kenny Marchant of Carrollton and state Sen. Jon Lindsay of Houston are eyeing other districts.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, says he'll run for re-election. The problem may be in deciding where.
If the lines stand up, Doggett's 10th District would run toward Houston through strong Republican areas, and some think there's no way a Democrat can win. Houston's Lindsay might run, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike McCaul of Austin says he is, too.
Doggett, who expects federal courts to reject the new map, said Wednesday that he will "most likely" run in the the 25th District, a heavily Hispanic and Democratic district that snakes from Austin to the Mexican border. State Rep. Kino Flores, D-Mission, is also talking about running.
One problem facing state legislators like Flores is that the more they talk about running for Congress, the more they could generate primary candidates to replace them. Then if the new districts don't survive, they could have re-election opponents they otherwise wouldn't have had.
There's some talk that state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, also might consider the 25th District. His Senate seat isn't up until 2006, so he could run without risking it. (If Barrientos ran and won, many Austinites wouldn't be surprised if former Mayor Kirk Watson ran for the Senate.)
The third Austin district, the 21st, would stretch to San Antonio, as it does now, and most likely will stay with Republican Lamar Smith, who currently has the part of Travis that Doggett doesn't.
Dave McNeely's column appears Thursdays. Contact him at (512) 445-3644 or dmcneely@statesman.com.
Interesting... a guy by the same name, Sean Byrne, was mentioned in an article about a TX company and smuggling of aviation parts to Iran.
Interesting... a guy by the same name, Sean Byrne, was mentioned in an article about a TX company and smuggling of aviation parts to Iran.
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