Chuck Hopson Draws First GOP Primary Challenger

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 06:17 PM CST

Jacksonville dentist Michael Banks confirmed with QR this afternoon that he will seek the GOP nomination in HD 11, challenging the incumbent representative, Chuck Hopson, who announced last week that he was switching his party affiliation to Republican.

Banks said he would make a formal announcement of his candidacy Monday morning in Jacksonville. He told QR that he decided to challenge Hopson for the nomination because of the belief among many Republicans in the district that "the conservative values of our district in East Texas haven't been represented in the past."

By switching parties Hopson chose to move the challenge of getting re-elected from a general election to a primary, and with a hyper-Republican district I can understand the initial logic behind that move. Sure, Hopson won every general election by pulling lots of Republican support over to his side. But by moving the battle to the GOP primary, I think Hopson fails to understand that  A) few Democrats are going to cross over to vote for him in a Republican primary and B) the Republicans willing to vote for him in the general election are not the same Republicans that vote in the GOP primary.

Related Coverage on Burnt Orange Report

• TDP, Jim Dunnam, and 20/20 Statements on Hopson Switch
• HD 11: Quorum Report - Potential Challengers to Hopson Already Lining Up
• Texas Tribune: Texas Democratic Party on Hopson's Party Switch (Video)