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Friday, March 19, 2010

Seat Warmers?

by Emily Ramshaw
February 3, 2010  |  2

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Texas Republicans have Dallas County in their crosshairs.

From Far North Dallas to Mesquite, GOP candidates are vying for a chance to reclaim traditionally Republican House seats and to hold on to or expand their majority in the Legislature. But Democratic incumbents are clinging to their seats — and fighting uphill to win their party’s first House majority since 2002. At stake? Not just neck-and-neck policy votes, but the advantage in the 2011 House redistricting battle.

GOP operatives say freshman state Reps. Robert Miklos, D-Mesquite, and Carol Kent, D-Dallas, were swept into office in 2008 by a one-time-only surge of ...

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Comments (2)

  • pctx101 wrote on 2/3/2010 9:53 a.m.

    Republicans always act arrogant and believe anytime you knock off one of theirs that you're a "seat warmer."

    Out of the two, I'd say Miklos is more vulnerable. He will have the support of the HDCC and the trial lawyers so he'll be well funded. The minority vote in Mesquite/Balch Springs may be tough to turnout in a midterm. But with Bill White at the top and Craig Watkins downticket, Miklos will have some support. I'd say this one is a tossup.

    In 102, Carol defeated a 20 year incumbent by 2500 votes, far more than what Obama was able to beat McCain by. What Neerman didn't tell you was that she carried precincts that went for Goolsby over his 2006 opponent Harriet Miller. She is very popular among the PTAs across the district, and has strong support with independent and even Republican women. She has 150k in the bank, and the best candidates Neerman can run are a 30 year old from Plano, and another 30 year old who has no ties to the district. Having said that Carol will run a real race and won't take anything for granted. There are other freshman Democrats more vulnerable than Carol. I'd say Maldonado, Thibaut, and Moody would be ahead of her on that list.

  • TonyInDallas wrote on 2/6/2010 11:42 p.m.

    The only seat warmers I see here are the writer of this article and the GOP Chairman - neither of whom could be bothered to look up the actual percentage by which Carol Kent won HD102 in 2008. If they had, they would know that 3% of Carol's voters were absolute, hard-core Republicans. Straight Republican voters who crossed over and voted for her specifically.

    Obama won HD102 with 50.2% of the vote. Carol Kent won it with 53.01% of the vote.

    That roughly 3% margin over Obama are squarely, wholly Republicans who did *not* vote for Obama. Even if the majority-minority precincts don't turn out in big numbers this fall, that 3% of Republican voters will once again support Carol because of her proven record in RISD and her many first term results on behalf of her constituents.