Posted on 12/09/2013 8:21:16 PM PST by SoConPubbie
At the very last minute, Representative Steve Stockman filed today to run challenge Republican senator John Cornyn of Texas in the 2014 elections.
Stockman, a darling of the grassroots with a penchant for controversial Twitter statements and headline-grabbing comments, is a very, very long shot. But he’s by far the most prominent threat to the senator, who has a number of other less well-known challengers. World Net Daily reported at about 7:30 p.m. today that the congressman would challenge Cornyn. The site says Stockman said he decided to run because he believes Cornyn “undermined Sen. Ted Cruz’s fight to stop Obamacare.” More from that article:
WND asked: What makes you think you can beat this entrenched incumbent?
“I don’t know that I can beat him, but I am sure going to try,” he said, adding that he thinks he has a shot because, “In Texas, conservative policies win over stabbing fellow Republicans in the back.”
Stockman will try to ride the wave of voter discontent with Obamacare.
In October, he was already predicting a silver lining to the failed attempt to defund the health-care law, telling WND, “In every loss, there can be a victory.”
Because Stockman filed so late, there aren’t any especially prominent East Texas Republicans running to fill his congressional seat, in southeast Texas’s 36th congressional district. As of 3:56 p.m., only Phil Fitzgerald, a former judge, and John Amdur (the address listed is a Houston P.O. box) have also filed to run for his seat. The surprising move has irked many Texas Republican insiders: One Austin consultant tells National Review Online that he believes Stockman went out of his way to keep his intentions secret from James White, a state representative from the district who probably would have run to fill the seat if he had known about Stockman’s statewide ambitions.
White may just wait for 2016: “No doubt about it, James White will run next year,” the consultant says.
“It’s a disappointment,” he adds, noting that a victorious White would be the only African-American Republican in the House (Tim Scott was appointed to the Senate in 2013 and Allen West lost his reelection in 2012).
UPDATE: Not everyone is disappointed. Matt Hoskins, the executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, tells National Review Online that his group is mulling an endorsement.
“We haven’t decided yet whether we will endorse Steve Stockman, but we’re excited about the potential here,” he e-mails. ”Texas deserves two conservative fighters in the Senate, not just one. John Cornyn has voted to increase the debt, raise taxes, bail out Wall Street banks, and fund Obamacare. He’s part of the problem in Washington and voters deserve an alternative.”
Meanwhile, Cornyn’s office released a statement this evening touting his endorsement from Texas Right to Life.
“Senator Cornyn looks forward to discussing his conservative record with Texans,” said campaign manager Brendan Steinhauser in the statement.
There are more Black preachers (with sheeple) than Black conservatives in this part of East Texas.
Brian is the FIL of FOX News Jenna Lee...on "Happening Now," happening now.
If he was the nominee, I’d have no problem voting for him. He is very conservative. I just think it was a bit sleazy changing offices to run for on the last date and then a buddy of his filing for the House seat. I suspect Stockman didn’t know that the filing date deadline would be extended by his action.
He would definitely go after Obama full-force. Stockman refused to vote for Boehner as House Speaker. That counts for a lot in my mind.
Thank you my friend! Merry Christmas.
Uh oh. It looks like he can’t run cause he filed for reelection to the state house.
http://www.12newsnow.com/story/24199659/state-representative-at-odds-with-party-leaders
This should encourage more primary challenging...but won't!
The article states that “according to an interpretation” of the Texas election code (but diesn’t say by whom), persons who had filed as candidates to an office during the regular filing period can’t file for an office whose filing period was extended *even if the relinquish their spot on the ballot for the other race*? That sounds like a ridiculous “interpretation”; candidates fiile for one office and then switch to another office all the time—why, had Stockman not done exactly that at the last minute we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place—and no one “interprets” the law to prevent that. Surely the fact that the filing period for CD-36 has been extended pursuant to the election code should color the analysis and lead one to conclude that, if a person relinquishes his spot on the ballot (something one can do in Texas after the filing period is over; Tom DeLay relinquished his spot even after he had won the nomination, and no Republican was on the ballot), then he can file for the ofice whose filing period was extended.
It sounds like James White is accepting such a counterintuitive “interpretation” of the election code because he won’t be able to get a court ruling prior to Monday and doesn’t want to risk dropping out of the state house race to then be denied appearing in the CD-36 ballot; I can’t say that I blame him. This is a travesty, and an affront to democratic principles; why should Republican voters in CD-36 be denied the chance to nominate the candidate of their choice just because Congressman Stockman is a scumbag who wants to rig the primary so that a Paultard replaces him? I hope that the TX legislature clarifies this issue for future elections. And as for James White, I hope that, if the TX legislature doesn’t make such fix retroactive, he runs in 2016 and gives voters a true choice.
They say he’s guaranteed to run in 2016. We may have to suffer with a subpar Paulite or something similar until then. :(
Well hopefully not, surely someone decent is running. Of course someone decent would be harder for White to beat. Centilli is probably fine, may or may not be too establishment. I haven't heard which new people have filed.
I echo AuH2ORepublican's feelings on the election code. Courts should be prepared to step in quickly in time sensitive situations like this.
Real lame move by Stockman, whatever his motive was (helping get a favored replacement in, Paulbot or not, is the only motive I can think of). He seems kind of scuzzy. Not the ideal challenger for Cornhole.
I’m surprised that Stockman bothered. It probably won’t make a difference.
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