TLR Trying to Buy Democratic Senate Seat With Carol Alvarado

by: Katherine Haenschen

Wed Feb 27, 2013 at 04:15 PM CST

Carol Alvarado raised almost half of her run-off money from Texans from Lawsuit Reform, Stand for Children PAC, a teacher's union-busting organization, payday lenders, and several Republican PACs and mega-donors.

Her campaign is being heavily funded by organizations and individuals that work every day to block our core Democratic values.

Sylvia Garcia, on the other hand, is primarily funded by trial lawyers and labor organizations, the tradional donors to our Democratic candidates and causes.

Before we get into the details of who's giving to who, here's a quick run-down of the notable donors and links to each candidate's runoff report.

February 22 Runoff Reports for SD-6 Special Election Covering January 17-February 20
Carol Alvarado Runoff Report Raise: $581,969 Spend: $463,496 COH: $99,432 Report available here. Alvarado's Major Donors: $184,000 from TLR PAC $54,317 from Stand for Children PAC (in-kind) $20,000 from Barbara and John Nau $14,000 from payday lenders $10,000 from HillCo PAC $10,000 from Ryan Texas PAC	Sylvia Garcia Runoff Report Raise: $662,686 Spend: $641,435 COH: $119,227 Report available here. Garcia's Major Donors: $356,750 from the Mostyn Firm $117,000 from Texas Organizing Project (in-kind) $8500 from AFSCME's federal PAC $5000 from the Teamsters $5000 from the Plumber's union $2500 each from ILA Local 24 & 28 $2000 from SEIU's federal PAC

Below the jump, find out more about Alvarado's donors and their long history of working against Democratic ideals and -- and usually candidates, too.

Why Is A Republican State Senator Blockwalking for Carol Alvarado?

by: Katherine Haenschen

Mon Feb 25, 2013 at 02:07 PM CST

Over the weekend, Brains and Eggs posted a link to a Facebook post in which Burt Levine, a Republican political consultant in Houston, noted that Republican State Senator Larry Taylor was blockwalking for Alvarado over the weekend. According to Levine's Facebook post, he blockwalked for Alvarado with Taylor and Wayne Faircloth, a former Republican candidate for HD-23.

Here is a screenshot of the Facebook post, shared from Levine's page:

It's a curious move. Why would Alvarado have support from the likes of Republican State Senator Larry Taylor?

After all, this is a fiercely Democratic district -- the two Republicans in the January 26th special general election failed to garner a combined 10% of the vote -- so I'm not sure if what the voters want here is someone who readily receives support from the other side of the aisle.

Today I called the Alvarado campaign office, and spoke to Marc Campos, a consultant working on her campaign. I asked if it was true that Taylor was blockwalking for Alvarado. He said that a number of Carol's current and former colleagues are volunteering for her, and that members from both sides of the aisle have come down to campaign for her. Campos said of Republicans and Independents, "they're coming out to the polls, so we have to have a discussion with them as we do with most of the voters in the district."

It's an interesting choice. On January 26, Garcia and Alvarado were separated by less than the Republican share of the vote. Is Carol Alvarado is trying to win the run-off in a Democratic district by picking up Republican support, rather than turning out or persuading Democrats?

I find it disconcerting that in the final stretches of a race to replace a stalwart champion of progressive values, one of the two candidates is trying to win by courting Republican support -- and apparently receiving it in such volumes.

The biggest challenge Democrats face in the Senate is holding our own and using the 2/3rds rule to block Republican legislation that is harmful to our state -- and often disproportionately harmful to the residents of low-income urban districts such as SD-6.  

And it certainly begs the question why Taylor and other Republicans are working so hard to make sure Alvarado gets elected.

Special Election for SD-6 Set for January 26

by: Katherine Haenschen

Fri Dec 14, 2012 at 11:38 AM CST

The sad passing of Senator Mario Gallegos this past fall -- and his subsequent post-humous re-election on November 6th -- triggered a special election that Governor Perry has set for Saturday, January 26th. The filing deadline is set for December 27, and early voting will run January 9-22. The special election will be a "jungle style" race with all candidates -- and their party affiliation -- on the ballot. If no candidate reaches 50%, there will be a run-off.

Gallegos' death wasn't a surprise, nor was the quick entry of Garcia and Alvarado into the race once Gallegos was re-elected. (Had Republican candidate R.W. Bray been elected, it would have been moot because he'd be the new SD-6 Senator. He lost, 71%-29%, to Gallegos. He's now running in the special to fill the seat.) So far, no other heavyweights have entered the race. Former State Representative and US Senate candidate Rick Noriega released a statement that he is not getting in the race, though he did not endorse Garcia or Alvarado.

Beyond the election, the most pressing issue is whether the empty Democratic seat will factor into any rule changes in the Senate when the session begins January 8. (It's worth noting that Rick Perry could have called this special election earlier, however it's likely that the race will go to a run-off given the three candidates announced so far, so it's not entirely clear if the seat could have realistically been filled by mid-January.)

We'll enter the session with 19 Republicans and 11 Democrats in the upper chamber, still enough for the Blue team to block bad bills using the two-thirds rule, which requires consent of 21 Senators to bring something to the floor for a vote. The big question remains whether Republicans will try to change the rules of the Senate to require a simple majority, which will render Democrats irrelevant but might seriously rankle senators in both parties who don't like dispatching with procedural tradition for the sake of expediting extreme partisan legislation. Granted, this session's Senate will be far more ideologically conservative, owing to several Republican retirements and replacements.

In any case, we've got an election set for January 26, and we'll be covering it here on BOR over the next six weeks. Statements from Alvarado and Garcia on the election date are below the jump, as well as Noriega's statement that he is not running.