| After weeks of speculation, Chris Bell will announce his candidacy for Senate District 17 this Sunday, Harvey Kronberg reports. As we've reported before, the only public poll in this race shows Bell leading Republican Austen Furse 40 percent to 26.5 percent. A flyer produced by the Committee to Elect Chris Bell, made available by Quorum Report, makes it clear that a lot has changed in SD17 since Kyle Janek easily won races against minor Democratic opposition. The partisanship of this district leans Republican, but the environment of the district screams “change.” This district is no longer safe for Republicans.Majorities of likely voters in Senate District 17 say things are on thewrong track (63%) and give negative job ratings to Pres. Bush (53.2%), Gov. Perry (60.3%), and the Republican-controlled legislature (62.4%).
And Chris Bell is exactly the right candidate to take advantage of this political environment.
His name ID within the district is higher than that of U.S. Sen John Cornyn.
His approval rating within the district is a full ten points higher than that of incumbent state Sen. Kyle Janek. Plus, it appears many Republiucans are willing to take a look at Bell. Given the state of Republican Party, this is hardly surprising. The percentage of respondents saying that itwould be unlikely that they would consider voting for Chris Be llwas 39.1%, far lower than the Republican performance in SD 17. That same poll shows that more than 20%of Republicans already support Chris Bell, indicating both crossover potential for Chris Bell as well as deep dissention among the Republican ranks.
For those of you unfamiliar with the SD17 race, last month Matt Glazer wrote a guide to the race that you should read. |
