Burnt Orange Report

Frost Aide Running Against Glen Lewis

By Byron LaMasters

In another interesting primary for a state representative race, Martin Frost aide Marc Veasey is running against Glen Lewis in a Fort Worth district:

Marc Veasey is challenging veteran House member Glenn Lewis in the Democratic primary.

Mr. Veasey's candidacy is a rare example of a Democrat trying to take advantage of his opponent's alliances with House Republicans who pushed for congressional redistricting.

Though Mr. Lewis is a Democrat, he was a lieutenant of House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, serving as chairman of the House County Affairs Committee.

"We have a state representative who is more interested in rubbing shoulders with Republican power brokers in Austin than he is in delivering for his district," Mr. Veasey said.

Mr. Veasey was an aide to Rep. Martin Frost, D-Arlington, up until Friday, when he resigned to run for the Legislature. He says he's running against Mr. Lewis to put the district back in Democratic hands.

Mr. Lewis has represented the southeast Fort Worth district since 1995.

"If we're going to be mad at people for having working relationships with Republicans," Mr. Lewis said, "does it mean we're also going to completely abandon the notion of bipartisanship in Texas?"

We'll see what happens. I don't know anything about Veasey, but I'd be inclinded to support him if I knew more about him. I like his message. It's critical that we elect solid Democrats in Democratic districts, and not people that will accept committee chairmanships from the radical right-wing Craddick leadership. The era of bipartisanship in Texas politics ended with the Perry / Dewhurst / Craddick / DeLay leadership team last year. There's no going back as long as they're in control of things in Austin.