Thursday, March 08, 2018

What's up with blue Texas?

The verdict from the political pros is in: primary elections in the Lone Star State show progress for Dems, but no blue wave. My Texan friends must soldier on, working to change the mix of who votes. It's a long struggle.

But two contested Democratic Congressional primaries yielded fascinating results. I'd been paying some attention to the campaign in TX-21 (north of San Antonio and a bit of Austin) because an old acquaintance from work against the Afghanistan war had thrown down early to challenge the Republican incumbent. When that congressman retired, the race became a multi-part free-for-all. My guy, Derrick Crowe, missed the run-off, but quickly endorsed the front runner, Mary Wilson. She's a tough one: a lesbian, activist Baptist minister. She faces a May 22 run off against a moderate Dem endorsed by the scientist PAC.

Meanwhile, in the competitive west Texas 23rd district, Gina Ortiz Jones led the primary to take on a potentially vulnerable Republican incumbent.

... if she wins, she would make history as the first lesbian, Iraq War veteran and first-generation Filipina-American to hold a U.S. House seat in Texas. Her hometown district, Texas’ 23rd, has also never been represented by a woman.

Jones, too, will have to win a run off.

Them Democratic Texans seem on the way to nominating themselves some novel and exciting candidates.

1 comment:

Rain Trueax said...

Pennsylvania is next but frankly nobody should vote for the Republican as he seems uninspired even about his own campaign. His competition is the kind of guy we should all want to see win-- whatever party. The problem is people are making it all about Trump and if the Repub loses, it is supposed to make the prez look weak. Pennsylvania needs to get realistic and vote for the best person whatever party and that's clearly the dem.