Posted on 02/19/2004 5:56:30 AM PST by Theodore R.
New state senator will be back up at bat again soon Thursday, February 19, 2004
Democrat Paul Sadler made up a lot of distance in Tuesday's runoff election in Senate District 1 in Northeast Texas, but he couldn't overcome former Tyler Mayor Kevin Eltife's huge lead in Tyler and Longview.
With about 51.9 percent of the votes, Eltife won the remaining three years of the four-year term of former Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. He quit in January.
In the West Texas runoff, former Amarillo Mayor Kel Seliger's lead in the northern end of Senate District 31 more than offset Odessa businessman Kirk Edwards' lead in the south. The race was to replace former Sen. Teel Bivins, R-Amarillo.
Although Seliger, the more moderate candidate, won with about 56.2 percent, the special election was for the remaining 10 months of Bivins' term. Seliger isn't guaranteed his party's nomination for a full four-year term, which begins in January.
In Sadler's race, the wealthy trial lawyer was barraged with more than $700,000 in negative ads sponsored by Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
The group has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and campaign contributions to rewrite Texas' laws to make lawsuits more difficult to file and less lucrative. Their chief lobbyist used to be Mike Toomey, now Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff.
Sadler, with considerable contributions from other trial lawyers, had to fight a two-front war: against Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Eltife. Even so, he increased his share of the vote from the primary election, when he led with 39.5 percent.
And although Sadler led in 11 of the district's 16 counties, Eltife led by more than 10,000 votes in Smith and Gregg counties, where Tyler and Longview are located.
That was more than triple his 3,334 total margin.
In District 31, Seliger had led into the runoff with 35.7 percent and won the runoff over Edwards by a 9,010-vote margin. He won 18 of the 26 counties in the district, but he got more than double his margin of victory out of Potter and Randall counties, where Amarillo is located, with a lead of 20,544 votes.
By contrast, Edwards, of Odessa, led by 17,057 in Ector and Midland counties, where Odessa and Midland are.
Seliger's potential problem is the March 9 GOP primary, considered certain to pick the winner of the Senate term for the next four years in the heavily Republican district.
Republican primary turnout is heavier in Midland and Odessa than in Amarillo, where Democrats and independent voters supported Seliger.
That said, Edwards isn't the only primary candidate from the district's southern end. Fellow Odessan Bob Barnes, a popular restaurateur who finished fourth in the special election primary threatens to split the votes from the region.
Don Sparks of Midland, who finished third in the special election, is also on the primary ballot, but he isn't campaigning.
The GOP primary winner will face lone Democrat Elaine King Miller of Amarillo in November.
Dave McNeely's column appears Thursdays. Contact him at (512) 445-3644 or dmcneely@statesman.com.
Want more? Check out my blog at www.statesman.com/insidetexaspolitics.
This sentence says it all.
Sadler, with considerable contributions from other trial lawyers, had to fight a two-front war: against Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Eltife.
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