Larry Hunter To Take On Tuffy Hamilton

by: Matt Glazer

Tue Nov 27, 2007 at 11:02 AM CST

A former Vidor mayor will run in the Democratic Primary for the seat held by State Representative Mike Hamilton.

Larry Hunter will announce his candidacy for the District 19 seat during a news conference at noon Thursday at the Brown Center in Orange.

Hunter has a rather long track record of winning elections and serving in the district. Hunter has served as Mayor of Vidor, President of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Water Control and Improvement District No.1, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Vidor Independent School District. He has been appointed as Municipal Judge and City Attorney of Rose City, Counsel for Orange County Rural Fire Prevention District, and Counsel for the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission, which serves Hardin, Jefferson and Orange counties (two of which, Hardin and Orange, are within HD-19).

This is an uphill race, but very winnable.  In 2006, Hamilton received a deceptive 57.4% against the Democratic challenger.

However, The Democratic performance level is higher than that - both Dale Henry and Bill Moody exceeded 45% here. Tuffy first won in 2002 in an open race.  People have been voting for Larry Hunter just as long or longer than they have been voting for Hamilton, and in a change election the Democratic base numbers could go up.

This will be a must watch race and we look forward to seeing what Hunter can do.