Perry Sets Special Election to Fill Bivins' Seat

Lubbock, TX, Avalanche-Journal ^ | 12-09-03 | AP

[Theodore R.]

Perry sets election to fill Bivins' seat

AUSTIN (AP) — A special election to fill the seat of resigning state Sen. Teel Bivins will be Jan. 20, Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday.

Bivins, an Amarillo Republican nominated by President Bush to be ambassador to Sweden, is leaving the office Jan. 12. His Senate district covers 26 counties in West Texas.

The person elected to fill the post will serve the rest of Bivins' term, which runs until January 2005.

Perry also has set Jan. 20 as the date for a special election to fill the seat of Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, whose district is based in northeast Texas.

In both races, candidates wishing to run must file by Dec. 22.

[Theodore R.]

Were Democrats to win both of these special elections on Jan. 20, one year before the next presidential inauguration, they would say that their long-term doldrums in TX are ending, and "the democracy" is on the march again.

[AuH2ORepublican]

I assume that the Bivins district is safely Republican while the Ratliff district is more competitive. Am I right, Theodore?

[Theodore R.]

Yes, the Amarillo area is more Republican than that part of NE TX represented by Bill Ratliff. Many Republicans thought that Ratliff was philosophically more akin to the Democrats than to the GOP.