Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez announced today that he will not file for the 2012 Democratic Party nomination for the United States Senate from Texas. His statement is below:
"I am very grateful for the strong support and encouragement I have received from supporters across the country and the wonderful Texans I have met in every part of our great state. However, pressing personal challenges, coupled with the recent loss of our home due to fire and lagging fundraising numbers make a statewide election campaign impractical for me at this time.
"After extensive consultation with my family, Maria Elena and I have decided to put family first and I will therefore end my campaign for the 2012 U.S. Senate seat as of today.
"I am blessed to have made friends with so many great Texans on this journey. Their personal stories and their love for our homeland will continue to inspire me as I look ahead and consider future opportunities for public service. I remain steadfast in the desire to serve both my country and the State of Texas to help bring new, responsible, and fair-minded leadership to our government.
May God Bless Texas and May God Bless America."
A day after the Texas Democratic Party announced The Promesa Project, its leading Latino candidate declined to file, leaving none on the statewide ballot. As of the close of business today, the following are the only candidates filed for statewide office as Democrats. Grim.
David reported earlier this week that Texas State Professor Rebecca Bell-Meterau would be running for the State Board of Education's 5th District. She's not the only one.
In the comments, as well as in emails we have received, we learned that a guy named Daniel Boone was also running. Yes, it's no coincidence that he has the same name as that Daniel Boone. Apparently, he's related.
Daniel also ran for House District 73 in the 2008 cycle, getting about 26 percent of the vote against Republican Doug Miller. It was not his first run for this seat: he was a write-in candidate in 2006 when he received 2,690 votes (5.64%) when there was not a Democratic Party candidate. Boone was a career Air Force officer, rising to Lt. Colonel. Also, with a PhD in Experimental and Clinical Psychology, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at several universities, including the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Although some might consider him an also-ran and find more excitement in Bell-Meterau, it is exciting in general to know that multiple people are taking a jab at this seat, just like SBOE 10.
Even though I've lived in Austin non-stop for the last 3 and a half years, Fredericksburg out in the Hill Country's Gillespie County will always be home. And since it's been months since I've entertained you with my obsession of political reports on things in Fredericksburg, here's an update.
Early voting as of Tuesday was 2,369 out of 16,816 registered voters (14% turnout). Total Early voters in 2002 was 2,735.
Gillespie traditionally has had about 35% vote early in federal elections (50% in my dad's city council election which was an oddity but the first time we pushed for early vote). I'd expect 40% cast early there this year at best which would mean a total vote of 10,075 with 60% turnout if I use the same scaled factor for Gillespie turnout on W-Th-F that Travis has.
That's higher than normal. There were 7,918 votes cast in 2002 in Gillespie total. That would be a 27% increase in raw votes.
So what would be driving it? A small part of it is population growth. In that county, I'm sure there is a higher than average Kinky effect simply because it's right next door to Kerr (his home turf if you can say he has any left). There is a proposed TTC corridor but it barely nicks the southwestern edge of the county. There are no contested county races and it is one of the few counties in Texas that has no major party challenge on the Congressional, State Senate, and State House level (though write-in candidate Daniel Boone to whom I have donated is gunning against James LeiningerNathan Macias).
Either I'm greatly undercounting Friedman activity in Gillespie County (possible) or people are very motivated to vote there for other reasons. The only thing I can think of, and my best gut feeling, is Republican leaning traditional and drop-off voters are coming out to the polls to send a message. I'm just not sure what that message is yet. Hopefully, it's a rural revolt.
