Free Republic

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...

Senate could get another maverick Thursday, December 25, 2003 The Jan. 10 retirement of state Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, could bring to the Senate someone as independent as he is. The lone Democrat in the Jan. 20 special election is former House Education Committee chairman Paul Sadler of Henderson. The main Republican candidates are state Rep. Tommy Merritt of Longview and former Tyler Mayor Kevin Eltife. Sadler, 48, a plaintiff's attorney, started his freshman session in 1991 by lecturing his colleagues that a lottery was wrong, and then ran a brief and ill-fated campaign for speaker. But he buckled...

By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Writer AUSTIN Dominance was the magic word for Texas politics in 2003. Republicans dominated the political landscape as they made deep budget cuts, placed limits on civil lawsuits and pushed through a GOP congressional redistricting plan despite the protests and road trips of Democrats. ”Texas politics? Year of the elephant,” summed up Tony Proffitt, a veteran political consultant who was an aide to the late Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock. The GOP already held all the statewide offices and had the edge in the Texas Senate before the 2002 elections. With a sweeping victory, Republicans...

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,...