Political People and their Moves

The state will have at least four new senators next year, but don't expect the partisan balance to change in any important way.Fifteen of the state's 31 senators are not on the ballot this cycle. Six incumbents drew no major party opposition: Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler; Florence Shapiro, R-Plano; Rodney Ellis, D-Houston; John Whitmire, D-Houston, Kyle Janek, R-Houston, and Kip Averitt, R-Waco. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat seeking to replace Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, is alone in his primary and the Republicans ducked. Three open seats in the Senate attracted more competition. In SD-3, where Todd Staples, R-Palestine, is giving up the seat to run for commissioner of agriculture, four Republicans have signed up, including Frank Denton, Dave Kleimann, Robert Nichols, and Bob Reeves. However it goes, it'll go to a Republican; no Democrats showed up for the race. In Houston's SD-7, where Republican Jon Lindsay is leaving, a spirited four-way race has opened up between city councilman Mark Ellis, talk radio host Dan Patrick and Republican Reps. Peggy Hamric and Joe Nixon. In SD-18, where Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, is retiring, Bret Baldwin and Henry Boehm Jr. are after the Democratic nomination; Gary Gates, Rep. Glenn Hegar, and David Stall are after the GOP slot. That could flip party preferences; though Armbrister has successfully held on, the numbers in that district favor elephants over donkeys. Five incumbents will skate in March but face opponents from the other party in November: Sens. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville; Steve Ogden, R-Bryan; Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio; John Whitmire, D-Houston; and Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso. Each serves a district that favors the incumbent party, but they'll have to prove it against, in the same order, Dwight Fullingim, Stephen Wyman, Kathleen "Kathi" Thomas, Angel DeLaRosa, and Donald "Dee" Margo.
The last two senators on the ballot -- Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, and Frank Madla Jr., D-San Antonio -- have intraparty feuds in March. Deuell will face Tim McCallum; Madla is being challenged by Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. The winner of that second contest will have a fight ahead in June against the winner of a GOP primary between Dick Bowen and Darrel Brown.

Not one member of the Texas delegation to Congress will leave office voluntarily after this term.But only two -- Republican Michael Conaway of Midland and Democrat Al Green of Houston -- will get through the year without an opponent. Everybody else in that 32-member political class will face major or minor party competition. Five will face opposition in their own party primary. Most of the attention at the moment is on three races that we've written about before. In CD-17, Chet Edwards of Waco, is defending the most conservative district held by a Democrat. He doesn't face a primary opponent, but will see the winner of a Tucker Anderson vs. Van Taylor GOP primary in November. In CD-22, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, attracted three primary opponents, a Democrat who used to be in Congress and two Libertarians who each want his job. That'll hinge largely on his legal and related public relations troubles; he's been indicted by a Texas grand jury and has been linked -- but not charged -- to an ongoing investigation of congressional and lobby corruption involving Jack Abramoff and others. And U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar has a three-way primary against former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, displaced by Cuellar two years ago, and Victor Morales, the school teacher who gave then-U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm a scare in 1996.
U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, has a primary opponent named Bob Johnson, which could prove confusing to voters. Ron Paul, R-Surfside, will be running against Cynthia Sinatra, who got that name by marrying Frank Sinatra Jr., in the GOP primary in CD-14. Sylvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, will face two opponents in the Democratic primary: Jorge Artalejo and Ben Mendoza. One more race to note, though it's in November: Will Pryor, a Dallas lawyer and former judge who was first assistant attorney general to Dan Morales during Morales' first term, is challenging U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas.

Bob Richter has returned from the dark side. The former reporter and editorial writer left the San Antonio Express-News to work for House Speaker Tom Craddick, then for the state's Health and Human Services Commission. He's now back at the paper as its ombudsman. Rebecca Rentz will be the new director of air programs for the Houston office of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, putting her in the middle of efforts to clean up the air there. She's an attorney with Bracewell & Giuliani, and also worked on environmental policy for Harris County Judge Robert Eckels. Jennifer Harris is going private, leaving the state's Health and Human Services Commission to work with Ross Communications, an Austin-based public affairs consulting firm. Before her HHSC gig, she was the spokesperson for two Texas Secretaries of State. Ray Martinez III, a Texas lawyer, was elected vice chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which oversees funding for states under the Help America Vote Act.
Deaths: Hazel Falke-Obey of Austin, a Democratic activist and community leader who worked on innumerable campaigns and for both the state and national Democratic Parties. She was 62... Walter Mischer Sr., a Houston developer, banker, and political financier. He was 83... Darrell Hester of Harlingen, presiding judge of the 5th Judicial District and a jurist for 35 years. He was 80.

Thirteen House members won't be back after this term, either because they're seeking higher office or because they've decided to get their lives back. And 64 members don't have significant opposition this year.The first group includes four who are running for state Senate: Peggy Hamric, R-Houston; Glenn Hegar Jr., R-Katy; Joe Nixon, R-Houston; and Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. The other two are Terry Keel, R-Austin, who's running for a spot on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Ruben Hope Jr., R-Conroe, who's running for a district judgeship. Others are getting out with no stated political plans: Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie; Mary Denny, R-Aubrey; Bob Griggs, R-North Richland Hills; Bob Hunter, R-Abilene; Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas; J.E. "Pete" Laney, D-Hale Center; and Jim Solis, D-Harlingen. Within a couple of weeks, Austin voters will fill Republican Todd Baxter's empty spot -- he quit in November. Whoever wins that one will have opposition in the general election; the Democrats in that district will also have a primary election fight. All the other changes this year will be involuntary. Sixty-four members of the Texas House don't face major party opponents in this year's elections, a group that includes 34 Democrats and 30 Republicans. Eleven Democrats and 19 Republicans -- 30 in all -- have primary challengers.
And a total of 73 House members face opposition in either or both the primary and general elections.