State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, HD-51, who represents East Austin, put together a brief summary of the major changes to the Legislative map in the version released by the Federal court last night. Thanks Eddie for this solid overview. It's posted here on his website.
New House and Senate maps were released today and here are some of the highlights:
- There were no surprises in Travis County, as the 6 House Districts look like the ones drawn during Session with 5 Democrats and one Republican.
- At least one Democratic pairing has been separated, as Rep. Hubert Vo and Rep. Scott Hochberg now have separate districts to run in.
- Republican Beverly Woolley's district was eliminated. Rep. Woolley previously announced her intention to retire.
- In South Texas, the district where Democrat Veronica Gonzales and Democrat-turned-Republican Aaron Pena both reside is much more Democratic than the map passed by the Legislature. The district has returned almost to the status quo.
- Senator Wendy Davis' of Fort Worth retained a district similar to her current one. The map passed by Republican legislators would have eliminated Democratic parts of Tarrant County while adding Republican strongholds.
- The House map includes 58 minority opportunity districts.
- The House map creates 13 open seats. Former Democratic Rep. Paula Pierson has announced her intent to run for the new open seat in HD 93.
Good to see Eddie keeping close tabs on the map that will largely determine how Democratic his chamber is. Great to see a map that will empower minority communities to elect a representative of their choosing.
Congressional maps are expected be released today. The main area of focus, at least in Central Texas, will be on CD-23 (Republican Rep. Canseco challenged by Democratic State Rep. Pete Gallego) and CD-35 (open seat with primary between State Rep Joaquin Castro and Rep. Lloyd Doggett). Changes to those districts may impact CD-25, 21, and 20 as well.
When Leticia Van de Putte declined to run for Governor earlier today and instead threw her support behind the potential candidacy of Texas Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin), political observers in Travis County paid special attention.
Sen. Watson was already known to be considering running statewide, but the apparently orchestrated plug by Van de Putte makes his entry seem much more likely today than it did yesterday.
If Watson does decide to run, the Travis County Democratic primary will immediately become very, very busy.
Three local state representatives -- Elliott Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez and Mark Strama -- are thought to be considering running for Watson's seat if he decides to run for Governor.
Naishtat would start off with a significant cash on hand advantage over any opponent and represents a vote-rich district. The Dean of the Travis County Delegation is the go to guy in the House on human services issues.
Rodriguez could mobilize small donors and has ties to activists countywide dating back to his days as Executive Director of the Travis County Democratic Party. Rodriguez is one of only two representatives who never voted for Tom Craddick for speaker and won a tough primary in 2002 in which he was heavily outspent.
Strama is a proven fundraiser and was Chairman of Technology, Workforce and Economic Development this past session. Though his voting record is more moderate than the other two, he has turned what was once a swing district into a Democratic stronghold.
All three are well respected by local party activists and have distinct bases of voters that make all three of them capable of winning the seat.
Assuming two of them do decide to run, that leaves two open House seats that are likely to be hotly contested as well. All of a sudden, what recently appeared to be shaping up to be a rather calm local Democratic Primary with a few contested judicial races, could be on the verge of dramatically changing.
Of course, as Watson has said he won't make a decision until later this summer, we will have to wait to see whether any of this speculation actually comes true.
Disclosure: I am a supporter of Lee Leffingwell for Mayor.
State Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) became the second member of the Travis County House delegation in as many days to endorse Lee Leffingwell's campaign to become the next Mayor of Austin.
We are happy and honored to announce that State Representative Donna Howard has given her endorsement to Lee Leffingwell's campaign for Austin mayor!
Donna represents District 48 in the Texas House of Representatives, which includes big slices of Austin west of MOPAC and north of of 183, as well as the cities of Rollingwood, West Lake Hills and Lago Vista.
Born and raised in Austin, Donna graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in nursing from the University of Texas, where she also earned her Master's Degree in health education. She subsequently worked as a critical care nurse at Brackenridge and Seton hospitals, was president of the District 5 Texas Nurses' Association, and helped launch the Seton Good Health School.
Reps. Howard and Eddie Rodriguez, both Leffingwell backers, are the only state representatives to have endorsed in this race.
Disclosure: I am supporting Lee Leffingwell for Mayor.
State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) endorsed Council Member Lee Lefingwell for Mayor of Austin today. With his endorsement of Leffingwell, Rep. Rodriguez became the first of Travis County's legislators to make a public endorsement in the Austin Mayor's race.
This was not Rep. Rodriguez's first endorsement in this year's Austin municipal elections. Several months ago both Rep. Rodriguez and his wife endorsed Place 1 candidate Perla Cavazos.
We’re very proud to announce that State Representative Eddie Rodriguez has endorsed Lee Leffingwell for Austin mayor. Eddie represents District 51 in the Texas House of Representatives, which encompasses most of East Austin, just south of MLK Boulevard.
Eddie was first elected to the State Legislature in 2002 and has been a great friend to his constituents and the City of Austin since his first day in office. As a legislator, his focus has been on environmental regulation, health and human services, housing protections, election issues, and other issues important to Texans.
Eddie is a native of McAllen and a graduate of the University of Texas, and is currently in law school at UT. He lives in East Austin with his beautiful and charming wife Natasha. Thanks for your support, Eddie!
Most of you know by now that the Texas progressive blogosphere has put together and launched TexBlog PAC. The inaugural fundraiser is September 24th in Austin and the sponsors are a who's who of Texas luminaries from all over the state.
With sponsors like Jim Dunnam, Pete Gallego, Lon Burnam, Eddie Rodriguez, Valinda Bolton, Mark Strama, the Texas Democratic Party, House Democratic Campaign Committee, and Texas Progress Council PAC, blogs are taking online action offline. We are ready and prepared to shake up the '08 election cycle.
What does the Republican Party think of this? In a Fort-Worth Star Telegram article out today, Hans Klinger the political director of the Texas Republican Party dismisses anyone working to take back Texas.
Hans Klingler, the political director of the Texas Republican Party, is not convinced. Texas voters have not elected a Democrat to a statewide office since 1994, and Republicans have been steadily whittling down the Democrats' advantage at the county level, the one stage in Texas that they still control, Klingler said.
Klingler also suggested that the Democratic bloggers are less of a grassroots movement and more of an echo chamber, where the handful of writers and readers talk almost exclusively to one another.
"Maybe they're a majority in the virtual world," he quipped.
When September 25th hits the number one question bloggers will get is, "so how much did you raise?" There is no way we can let the Republican Party get away with calling us an echo chamber and a virtual majority. In the last four years we have worked for candidates like Carlos Uresti, Juan Garcia, Valinda Bolton, Boris Miles, Ellen Cohen, and many many more.
House Democratic leader Jim Dunnam already knows we are an agent of change.
"I think the blogosphere is giving voice to what a lot of ordinary Texans are thinking, and that is that we need a change of leadership in Austin," said Dunnam, of Waco. "I think they are really helpful in spreading the message that it's Democrats who are going to be the agents of change in 2008."
Prove Jim Dunnam right and come by the home of Kurt and Amy Clark Meachum on September 24th. We are going to be celebrating the beginning of TexBlog PAC's journey to help win back the Texas House at 5103 Cedro Trail Austin Texas 78731 from 6 to 8 p.m. and saying thank you for your support.
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) is celebrating his birthday tomorrow and he wants you to be there.
The tickets are only $15 and your donation goes to a great Representative. Helping Democrats like Rep. Rodriguez is one of the best steps in solidifying our gains in the House and working to expand our Democratic base. Plain in simple, go have fun, show your support, and help a great House member.
The event is tomorrow, Thursday July 19, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 1604 E. 11th.
Representative Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) will propose an amendment to the house rules today that will give established Bloggers access to the House floor.
"With the rise of citizen journalism, it no longer makes sense to limit access to House business solely to the traditional press outlets," said Representative Rodriguez.
Political blogs are some of the limited media that focus solely on reporting the happenings at the Capital and many of these Bloggers regularly break stories that show up in the traditional media.
Bloggers, as defined by this revised rule, produce original reporting and informed comment worthy of credentials. This amendment will allow increasingly popular non-traditional media, the privileges necessary to more effectively inform citizens on governmental issues.
"This kind of measure would encourage citizen participation in government and help demystify the system for the general public," said Rodriguez.
