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...

Thursday, January 15, 2004 Millionaire Teel Bivins' replacement in the Texas Senate most likely will be another man capable of putting a lot of his own money into the contest. The Panhandle-to-Midland/Odessa district Bivins represented for 15 years, including stints chairing the Nominations, Education, and Finance committees, came vacant when he resigned Monday to become President Bush's nominee for United States ambassador to Sweden. The probable front-runner to be his replacement in Tuesday's special election is the former Amarillo mayor, Kel Seliger, 50, who left that office in 2001. Of the six other candidates, the three chief competitors, based on...

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,...

Candidates begin filing papers to run in 2004 primary election AUSTIN (AP) — Candidates for president, Congress, the Texas Legislature and other offices began filing papers for the 2004 primary election Wednesday, even as a dispute simmered over which congressional districts will be used. Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Arlington filed to run in the district he has represented for 25 years. Frost said he was confident a federal court will uphold existing congressional boundaries and toss out a GOP redistricting plan approved this fall. The Republican map, which Democrats claim violates minority voting rights, decimated Frost's heavily minority...