| To read a profile on the district, go here.
Democrat Rep. Joaquin Castro is running against Republican Nelson Balido. The race, in what is shaping up as a parallel to the Casteel-Macias race in the GOP primary last March, has tightened up in recent weeks. This line from the San Antonio Express-News sums it up best: Suddenly, the race, which was once considered a cakewalk for Castro, has become more difficult to predict. The line comes from an article titled, "Amateur video of sabotage could spur Leininger even more." The article discusses video that the Balido campaign shot of an alleged Castro supporter doing damage to a mock toll booth Balido's campaign put up in the district.
The best way to talk about the race is to show how it parallels the Casteel-Macias race. For those who aren't familiar, Rep. Carter Casteel was one of five Republican House members that was targeted by multi-millionaire James Leininger for her stance against school vouchers. Leininger, the largest voucher proponent in the known universe, sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into Nathan Macias, her challenger, in order to defeat Casteel. Here's how that race parallels the Castro race: - Leininger Money - First and foremost, the money. Leininger, through his own donations and through third-party PACS, spent at least $800k in support of Nathan Macias (view total donations here). Leininger has already given $25k to Balido, and -- according to the San Antonio article -- intends on giving a lot more.
- Toll road critics - One thing Macias continually hammered (despite the truth) against Casteel was her support for toll roads. Terri Hall, regional director of the San Antonio Toll Party, frequently attended Casteel's outings to challenge her on toll roads. Now, Hall is doing the same to Castro, as seen in this Express-News article titled, "Toll road critics blast Rep. Castro, endorse Balido":
The San Antonio Toll Party on Wednesday targeted state Rep. Joaquín Castro, accusing the two-term incumbent of siding with the "toll lobby."
The toll critics endorsed his main challenger, Republican Nelson Balido, in the race for Texas House District 125.
- Damaged campaign material - During the Casteel/Macias race, Macias launched an offensive on Casteel, claiming her campaign was destroying his yard signs. However, Casteel's campaign manager went to the New Braunfels paper with evidence of Macias' campaign destroying their own signs in attempts to taint Casteel. Now, a video has emerged with an unidentified woman destroying Balido's campaign material. Don't be surprised if her identity is never discovered.
Overall, I still believe Castro will pull through and win the seat. But he better not take the race lightly -- there's a lot of money for Leininger to spend in his hometown of San Antonio, and I'm guessing he'll spend a whole lot of it in the coming weeks. |
