It looks like in the final day to fill the vacancy, another McCaul challenger has decided to run.
Multiple sources have indicated Ted Ankrum will file tomorrow to run against Republican Michael McCaul. Ankrum ran in 2006 and kept McCaul to just 55.28% of the vote but only garnered 40.4% of the vote himself. He spent less than $75,000 total in his race but gains have been minimal over the last 4 years.
For Ankrum to be successful, he will have to spend the bulk of his time in Harris County, stress his military service, let the Travis County Democratic Party and Austin area activist do the heavy lifting in the north part of the district, and get a committed group of surrogates in the 10th Congressional District and beyond to begin a massive fundraising operation.
Needless to say, with the shortened window, Ankrum will have an uphill battle. The district continues to be tough pre-redistricting, but it is good to see a Democrat step up to the challenge.
In the days since Jack McDonald announced that he would not be running for the 10th Congressional District, speculation grew that foreign policy consultant and former candidate for the district Dan Grant would enter the race.
Grant--an Austin native--was widely viewed as one of the strongest contenders to make a late entry: he still has solid support from his previous campaign, and is extensively well-regarded by local activists. He has extensive foreign policy experience from his civil service work in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Today, Grant released a statement making clear that he would not be entering the race. From his press release:
"Like others, my wife and I were surprised by our friend Jack McDonald's announcement this week that he will not run for Congress after all, and I am deeply grateful for the strong encouragement I have received in the past two days to get into the race.
Because time is short, I have visited quickly with friends, Democratic Party officials, and community leaders in the district. After giving the decision due consideration, I am today announcing that I will not be a candidate for this or any other office during the current election cycle.
As many of you know, my wife and I are expecting our first child in less than a month. In other words, the standard excuse that I want to spend more time with my family is, by a happy coincidence, actually true in this case.
Moreover, my work training civilian workers and soldiers for the international mission in Afghanistan will continue to require my professional focus for the foreseeable future.
Again, my wife and I appreciate the many expressions of support we have received in the past two days. We look forward to helping Democratic candidates in this race and up and down the ballot get their positive message out in the months ahead."
Dan Grant remains a great candidate for this district, as he was in 2008. A loyal, committed Democrat, Grant has remained highly active within the party since his unfortunate loss in the 2008 primary. He continues to participate extensively in our local grassroots organizations, and has been involved in fundraising efforts for Democratic candidates.
Grant has also expanded his work on foreign policy issues by joining up with Operation Free, an organization that focuses on clean energy from a national security perspective. In an ironic bit of timing, the Austin Chronicle ran an article this week in which Grant evaluates President Obama's Afghanistan strategy.
Grant's decision not to enter the race at this late stage in the game is completely respectable. With less than two weeks in the filing period, it will be challenging for anyone to assemble a team capable of challenging McCaul. However, I sincerely hope that Grant continues to consider the race in the future. He would be a strong voice for the people of the 10th District.
Meanwhile, best wishes to Dan and his wife as they await the arrival of their first child.
After receiving 39 percent in the Democratic Primary in March, Dan Grant has officially endorsed the man who defeated him, Larry Joe Doherty.
Grant said Texans needed a break from "McCaulonomics" and that a Doherty victory would help District 10 uphold the proud history of Lyndon B. Johnson and Jake Pickle.
Middle-class families and small businesses have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the administration’s economic incompetence,” Grant said. “In the midst of the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, Larry Joe Doherty wants to turn the page — and Mike McCaul wants to laminate it.”
Grant said the fact that the 10th Congressional District’s boundaries were redrawn during a controversial redistricting scheme pushed by disgraced former Congressman Tom DeLay is part of the same culture of corruption that has led to the current financial crisis.
“Central Texas deserves a fresh start under new leadership,” Grant said. “No more endless war in Iraq, no more Katrina, no more McCaulonomics putting at risk the pension and small business of ordinary taxpayers who work hard and play by the rules.”
Mon., Sept. 22nd, 6pm, Foreign Policy Meet-Up, Dan Grant Speaking, TCDP Campaign HQ!
What: Dan Grant, former Democratic Primary candidate for US Congressional District 10, will be our speaker as we discuss Foreign Policy.
(7:15pm-8:00pm is "Democratic Citizen Communication" where you present your issues important to you as a Democrat!)
When: Mon., Sept. 22nd, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Where: Travis County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign Headquarters, 1107 N. I 35, Austin, TX (next door to CVS, in old Safeway Building at 12th and I-35)
Who: Anyone interested in networking with fun, cool, energizing, like-minded Democrats, and learning about the policies and issues important to our city, our state, and our nation heading into the November TX elections. 2nd hour is a "Democratic Party Town Hall Meeting".
Cost: FREE
You're welcome to bring food/drinks to share and you're welcome to bring your laptop (Laptop not mandatory).
PS - mark your calenders NOW for Mon., Sept. 29th, 6pm, our final "Issues/Policy Meet-Up" of the season! We'll spend our two hours summarizing all Democratic Policy Issues...it'll be our "Issues/Policy SUPERBOWL"!!!
Best,
David Kobierowski
Travis County Democratic Party Issues Committee Chair
512-413-0286
Cleanair999@yahoo.com
This week marks the fifth anniversary of shock and awe in Iraq.
Five years of blood - 3,990 U.S. soldiers killed, including two who perished in a midday bomb attack in downtown Baghdad just yesterday, and more than 29,000 seriously wounded.
Five years of treasure - $800 billion officially, including President Bush's pending request for additional tax dollars, and probably closer to a total of $3 trillion, according to Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
Five years of shocking failure and awesome incompetence.
It was a year ago that I returned from Iraq, where I had been serving as a civilian. I didn't support the original invasion, but I held out hope that we could help Iraq build the foundation of a democratic system to justify the heartbreaking personal investments of our military families and the financial sacrifice of our taxpayers.
I was wrong.
Neither administration - not the one in Baghdad, not the one back in Washington, D.C. - had the commitment or competence to get the job done.
This week, what we are left with is a holding pattern of continued violence against our soldiers and Iraqi civilians, against our standing in the world, and against our economic well-being, which is now being driven into a deepening recession caused to some significant degree by that can be laid at the feet of the more than $12 billion you and I are already squandering there each month.
Yesterday, George W. Bush issued hollow assurances that he and his administration are doing everything they can to avoid an outright plunge into economic disaster, touting a $30 billion bailout of a prestigious Wall Street bank engineered since last Friday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others.
"I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for working over the weekend," Bush smiled.
He made no mention of the families of the 15 U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since Sunday, who surely have lost their share of sleep, too.
Here is a look at the three biggest federal races. We'll include more races later on, if they're close, as the night develops. The Republican primary race in CD-22 to run against Congressman Nick Lampson is below the fold.
Veteran Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle yesterday endorsed foreign policy expert Dan Grant in his race for the Democratic nomination in the 10th Congressional District, saying he is uniquely qualified to step into the seat once held by Lyndon B. Johnson and J.J. 'Jake' Pickle.
"Dan Grant has the wisdom and experience that we need to face the challenges of the future," Earle said. "He is too good an offer to pass up."
Earle, who last month announced his retirement after 31 years as the county's top prosecutor, announced his endorsement during a news conference at the Travis County Courthouse.
Grant, campaigning in Austin on the last day of Early Vote, said he is proud to have Earle's backing.
"Ronnie Earle has held a generation of public figures accountable, including the man who engineered the mid-decade redistricting scheme that put the seat I'm running for into Republican hands," Grant said.
CD-10's boundaries were redrawn in 2003 under pressure from then-U.S. Majority leader Tom DeLay, who has since been forced to resign in disgrace.
Grant spent much of the past decade working as a civilian under contract to the U.S. Government in trouble spots around the world. He returned to Texas last March from Iraq, where he served as part of the international civilian team in Baghdad. He helped the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq prepare and conduct the historic elections of 2005 and, as deputy director of Iraq's largest out-of-country voting program, oversaw the effort to register eligible voters in major U.S. cities for Iraq's Transitional National Assembly election.
A graduate of Georgetown University and the London School of Economics, Grant has put forward a detailed plan to help working families find economic security during the current downturn. He has called for universal health care, significant steps toward energy independence, an expansion of the pro-work, pro-family Earned Income Tax Credit, micro-lending programs to help local companies and entrepreneurs, and new investments in education to help the U.S. compete with China, India, and other emerging global economies.
Grant grew up in Austin and interned for legendary Congressman Jake Pickle while attending McCallum High School.
To view all of BOR's endorsed candidates, click here.
Change vs. Experience. Experience vs. Change.
This year, this seems to embody our debates for choosing Democrat candidates. We will not worry now about which of the two qualities is better in a candidate, because that is not necessary. The Burnt Orange Report endorses Dan Grant for Congressional District 10 because his candidacy embodies both.
Dan Grant initially attracted the eyes of activists with a resume worthy of a Congressman. Spring-boarding off a Bachelor's of Foreign Service from Georgetown and a Master's of Science in Government Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics, Dan Grant began his post-collegiate life as a global civilian helping the world. In the late 1990s he monitored elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 2001 he was an election supervisor in Kosovo, he then helped plan Afghanistan's post-Taliban constitutional convention, and more recently helped the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq prepare its historic 2005 elections.
In a year where the rest of the world is wearier of the United States than during any other time of my parent's lifetime, Dan Grant knows foreign policy and has the experience to help Congress remedy the issue. Mr. Grant, however, knows that experience alone fails in solving problems. This is why he titles his "On the Issues" page of his website "Agenda for Positive Change." When Texas on the Potomac gave Grant an open forum, he insisted "We need a change in Washington -- now. We can't afford more of the same." We believe that he has the youthful energy to act on this declaration.
The United States of America calls for change by disapproving of both Congress and the Presidency. America did the same in 2006, and the government's standing with the people remains the same (if not worse) because "Democrat" alone does not represent change. The problem can be remedied in only one way: in 2008, the President and the Congress must contain the energy ready to reform while simultaneously holding the knowledge and experience to do so efficiently. Dan Grant can help this country on each count.
(Dan Grant is a BOR endorsed candidate in the TX-10 Congressional Primary. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
Yesterday, we received yet another major endorsement. Increasing our list of endorsers to 42, the Houston Chronicle wrote:
U.S. Congress, District 10, Democrat Dan Grant - A graduate of the London School of Economics and Georgetown University, Grant has deep foreign policy experience earned as a U.S. Agency for International Development official in Afghanistan and Iraq. He favors an immediate pullout of the bulk of American troops from Iraq. Closer to home, Grant says his domestic priorities will be supporting policies geared to economic recovery and health care reform.
Our current TV spot has also received great response:
The people have spoken and believe I am the candidate for the voters in CD-10. Here is a complete list of our supporters:
