Rep. Mark Homer represents Paris, Sulphur Springs, and a dozens more smaller towns in his six-county district in northeast Texas. Rep. Homer has represented the district since 1999, and every year Republicans target him -- and every year he wins. Like a lot of other Democrats who represent parts of rural Texas, Rep. Homer votes with his district and works across the aisle to do whatever his constituents want him to do for their community.
The votes in District 3 come down to the counties, and Lamar County -- the largest one -- has been home for Rep. Homer forever. As the publisher of the Paris News reported after the primary in an excellent analysis of voting strength within the district:
Fortunately for Homer and unfortunately for Cain, I don’t think the projected voter backlash against Democrats expected in November as a result of the decline in President Obama’s popularity is going to be a factor in this race.
In 2008, for example, when nationwide Obama had a resounding, landmark victory, Lamar County went solidly in the Republican column. The McCain/Palin ticket received 12,940 votes or 71 percent compared to Obama/Biden’s 5,240 votes or 28 percent.
While on the surface these totals seem to favor Cain locally, Lamar County went just as solidly with Democrat Homer in 2008 as it did the Republican presidential ticket, with the District 3 incumbent receiving a total of 10,535 votes in his home county, easily outdistancing the 7,698 votes his Republican challenger received.
Erwin Cain, a Dallas-area trial lawyer, has come under some fire within the district for not actually working in the area. A video against Cain in the Republican primary -- which didn't get a lot of attention, but did encapsulate a lot of the conversations about Cain going on in the district -- highlights his trial lawyer background:
