The new State Senate District 25. See the full map here.
Pop some corn, ladies and gentlemen, because today Dr. Donna Campbell made it official -- she is going to primary State Senator Jeff Wentworth for SD 25. SD 25 includes a chunk of of South Austin, plus all or part of Hays, Kendall, Comal, Bexar and Guadalupe Counties. It is pretty hard-core Republican territory.
Y'all should remember Dr. Donna from 2010, when she ran a spirited race against Lloyd Doggett, and lost. She's a Tea Party zealot and extreme right winger, so it will be interesting to see how she does in a 2012 primary with Rick Perry also on the ballot. (She won a GOP primary in 2010, besting George Morovich 70%-30%.)
This should be interesting. Dr. Donna is viewed by many as being actually insane. Wentworth raised more than a few eyebrows last session with his relentless determination to pass his Guns in Campus Buildings bill, even trying to prevent Senator Wendy Davis from attending her own kid's high school graduation in Fort Worth, threatening to bring the bill up for a vote while she was away.
Expect escalating rhetoric around abortion. Wentworth has always been moderate on the issue -- he even voted against the Sonogram bill this last session, providing one of the best lines of the debate when he said "I personally am a hairy-legged male who will never be pregnant." True.
Meanwhile, Dr. Donna thinks abortion runs counter to her medical training. She wrote on her former Congressional campaign website,
There is perhaps no issue closer to my heart than protecting the sanctity of life. The lost lives that result from abortions are lost hopes, our lost moments with future family members, and the lost dreams of an entire generation. In founding America, we made a promise to protect Life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. In keeping that promise, we are called by a higher power to speak up for those who cannot defend themselves.
Fear not -- if elected, Dr. Donna will do absolutely nothing to provide for the pursuit of education, health care, or quality of life of these forced births. Also, "those who cannot defend themselves" will most assuredly mean only the unborn Texans, not the millions of people victimized by Rick Perry and the Republican legislature this last session.
Wentworth's probably going to have a difficult time explaining the abortion issue away -- if there's one thing Republican primary voters hate more than LGBT rights or minorities, it's women's reproductive rights!
Also interesting to see is if Campbell's army of Tea Party activists who came to help in 2010 from around the country will return this cycle. They were pretty creepy, canvassing every house in South Austin in red shirts and camoflage pants, as I recall. At least by blanket-canvassing precincts with >60% DPI they saved TCDP and the Doggett campaign some work.
Should be an interesting race. Wentworth has served in the Senate since 1993, and in the Texas House from 1988-1993. He already announced that he's running again. Wentworth tried to get a cushy university administrative gig, but it didn't pan out. (I guess he's no Brian McCall or John Sharp.) It would not have surprised me if he had retired after this past session; apparently Dr. Donna is going to try and do the honors for him.
Dr. Donna, by the way, does not currently live in the district (she lives in Hagar's district), but is apparently planning to move to Hays County. She's originally from Oklahoma. She wants to "make America exceptional again." Strategic upside: since she ran for CD-25 last cycle, and is running for SD-25 now, all of her old campaign merch with "25" on it can be repurposed. (I am guessing she's opposed to recycling, but arguably she should be in favor of saving money, right?)
In any case, this primary is likely to be pretty brutal. There's a chance the candidates will run so far to the right, they may actually fall off the edge of the 6000-year-old flat earth Donna Campbell thinks she occupies.
As noted by the Texas Tribune, Central Texas Republican State Senator Jeff Wentworth is exploring a vice chancellorship position at Texas A&M University. While not final, the talks are taking place and Sen. Wentworth was left without a standing committee assignment in the recent reshuffling announced by Lt. Governor Dewhurst.
Sen. Wentworth has stated that he will remain on the November ballot in any case, where he faced only Libertarian opposition.
Texas Tribune: Wentworth said he'll remain on the November ballot whether he takes the A&M job or not. Leaving early would leave the nomination in the hands of party officials, and he thinks that's undemocratic. He'd stay on the ballot, presumeably win (it's a Republican district, and his only opponent is a Libertarian) and then decline to take the seat. That would set up a special election where the candidates weren't chosen by party elders. "So the people could pick my successor," he said.
Besides the strategic reasons for how Wentworth might want to time this, it's understandable that he doesn't want to vacate his seat in such a way that leaves power in the hands of Republican precinct or county chairs. Wentworth is one of the more moderate Republicans with a pattern of fairer play in the upper chamber and a replacement picked by party officials (besides being an inside play) could result in a more conservative GOP nominee.
Should Wentworth take the job at A&M and decline being seated after winning in November, that would force a special election to be held very close to or during the 2011 legislative session. With only 30 Senators, 16 votes would still be required for a majority to pass legislation, but with the drama surrounding the 2/3rds rule the timing of when the seat is actually filled will be worth keeping an eye on.
A special election would also give Democrats a chance to file a candidate and compete in a lower turnout election. The path to a Democratic majority in the Texas Senate is pretty rough if you don't include SD-25 but it's still a tough seat to win. Wentworth won 58-37 over Democrat Kathi Thomas in 2006. In addition, I just spoke with Rep. Patrick Rose's campaign who confirmed that Rep. Rose has no interest or plans to run for an SD-25 vacancy at any point.
SD-25 runs along the I-35 corridor including parts of South Austin, Hays, Kendall, Comal, Guadalupe, and northern Bexar County where the population is concentrated. I find it unlikely that someone in the Travis County delegation would run for the seat as Rep. Rodriguez has his eye on a different Senate seat and Rep. Bolton is focused on her re-election this fall. (I just got off the phone with Bolton's campaign leadership and they confirm that Valinda is focused on winning her re-election in November and serving her district throughout next spring's session).
John Courage, former Congressional candidate in TX-21 which overlaps much of the district had briefly considered running for SD-25 this cycle and could be a potential candidate. Whether or not he runs, a San Antonio Democrat would likely be our best chance in a special election.
Earlier this year, Senator Jeff Wentworth introduced a little resolution concerning academic freedom at Texas colleges and universities. We at Free Exchange on Campus (and many others) opposed the resolution as the first step to government intervention into the college classrooms in Texas. The measure ultimately stalled out in committee.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth's (R-San Antonio) bill passed the Senate on a vote of 21-9. Those voting against the measure included Estes, Fraser, Harris, Jackson, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Shapiro and Williams. Bill is likely to have an uphill battle in the House.
This is great, positive development and at least it's passed out of the Senate which is an improvement over sessions where it dies in committee. Of course, we'll see if DeLay takes a break from being majority leaderminority leader a nobody to visit his friend Tom Craddick in the Texas House to bend him to his will.
This bill concept needs to pass but I wouldn't place my bets on it. But this is a step in the right direction. (John Courage makes an excellent point in the comments that the Senate bill in wording is outdone by a better bill in the House).
Most of you are probably familiar with David Horowitz's op-ed in the Texan last month. Unfortunately, the Horowitz lobby has been able to take their ultra-conservative propaganda into our state Legislature.
Tomorrow, the Texas Senate Higher Ed Committee will consider SCR 3, a resolution sponsored by Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio). The resolution is supposedly intended to encourage colleges and universities to protect "academic freedom." And while it is only a resolution and one in which the majority of the language is innocuous, no one should be fooled about what this resolution is about.
Across the country, anti-free speech activists such as David Horowitz and Lynne Cheney's American Council of Trustees and Alumni, are promoting a politically motivated campaign to attack higher education. They are trying to convince the public that there is a crisis of political bias in college classrooms--one that needs to be solved by stifling the free exchange of ideas which is so critical to higher education. They are using resolutions like SCR 3 to promote that campaign.
This year alone, there has been one type of legislation or another of this sort introduced in 11 states and over the last three years, there have been 28 states with such legislation. Hopefully, Texas will join the long list of states that have rejected such initiatives.
But what is so wrong with this little resolution. Here are just a few reasons.
(Kathi Thomas is running for State Senate in SD-25, covering all of Hays county among others. - promoted by Damon McCullar)
Redistricting is all in the news now. According to the Supreme Court, it is apparently fine to redistrict for no other reason than political, so the precedent set by the Republicans & Tom Delay in Texas could be something that will be an expensive nightmare every time power changes in any state…or, we could have a nonpartisan redistricting panel, as they do in Iowa. http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting/reports/remanual/ia.htm
The way it works in Iowa is this: “The legislature has the final responsibility for enacting both congressional and state legislative district plans, but the nonpartisan Legislative Services Bureau has initial responsibility. It must develop up to three plans that can be accepted or rejected by the legislature. The plans are criteria-driven, meaning that the bureau draws districts based on clear, measurable criteria.
The four criteria, in descending order of importance are: 1) population equality; 2) contiguity; 3) unity of counties and cities (maintaining county lines and “nesting” house districts within senate districts and senate districts within congressional districts); and 4) compactness. A five-member commission consisting of four civilian members chosen by each caucus in the legislature, and a fifth chairperson chosen by the commission, is responsible for advising the bureau, but only upon their request. If the legislature does not approve the first three plans by the bureau, it must itself approve a plan by September 1st, or the state Supreme Court will take responsibility for the state districts. The Governor has veto power over both plans.”
According to Gov. Vlisack, they just load this information into a computer, and the maps come out- there is no gerrymandering. He says this nonpartisan bureau has resulted in very competitive districts- both their house and senate are very nearly evenly divided by party-meaning that most governing comes from the center, or moderates, rather than by the far right or far left. That means that the government actually represents the views of the majority of their citizens.
