With all the depression and recrimination going on in Texas and around the country it seems that many have forgotten that there is a special election coming up Dec 14 in HD 44, Guadalupe, Wilson and Gonzales counties. With the untimely demise of the venerable and well liked Edmund Kuempel shortly after winning his re-election we now have a special election to fill the seat and there are 10 candidates running. There are two Democrats though one is of questionable nature - he won't be eligible vote until Dec 12 since he just did register to vote in the district. There's one Libertarian and a remarkable seven Republicans.
Cheryl Patterson is the Democrat that party regulars have coalesced around and she's died in the wool progressive. Patterson has a Masters of Educational Administration from Texas A&M, a Masters of Legal Studies from Southwest Texas State University, and a Bachelors of History from Southwest Texas State University. She is a former teacher and principal and how is a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker as well as a member of the Navarro ISD Board of Trustees.
She visited with us this evening and let us know that she's going to be a strong advocate for green energy device production in the state as well as public education. Cheryl told us she firmly believes in the separation of religion and state and a woman's right to control her own body.
So if you'd like to help get us to 52 Dems in the state house please contact Cheryl's campaign coordinator Gloria Sasser at 830-556-2887 gloriasasser@wildblue.net Cheryl can use all the help phonebanking and blockwalking that she can get as this will be a really short campaign.
More than seven months after we first wrote about the rumors that Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert may be considering jumpining in the U.S. Senate race if and when the seat becomes open, he rumors continue without the Mayor or his staff doing much to silence them.
I spoke with Leppert's City Hall chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh, and his political consultant, Mary Woodlief, to tell them I was working on a story about a possible Senate run and to ask for comment from the mayor. The response was radio silence from Leppert—not even a no-comment, just silence, reminding us of his response when we asked for details about his plan for taking over the school system.
The speculation that he will run persists, however, based on the widely held belief that a special election to replace Hutchison would give Leppert a window that won't be open again for another 15 years or more. In other words, it's a chance he can't afford to miss.
Greg noted that if Leppert does decide to run, it could harm the candidacy of State Sen. Florence Shapiro, who is from Plano.
Leppert's lack of strong Republican Party credentials and very low name ID outside of the Dallas area would make the race a clear uphill battle. But, as the Observer's article said, an open seat does not come along often and if Leppert wants to get to the Senate he may not have many better opportunities.
While appearing on a Dallas talk radio show this morning, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told host Mark Davis that she expected to resign her seat in the Senate in October or November.
Davis: So you’ll be coming out at some point. When do you think its decision time for you? When would you like when might we know?
Hutchison: I’m going to announce in August. Formal announcement I am in. Then the actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime – October/November – that-- in that time frame.
While it first should be said that Hutchison has said plenty of things over the years and many skeptics will not be convinced until she actually resigns, this is the closest Hutchison herself has come to setting a real timetable for an exit from the Senate.
Once Hutchison resigns, the non-existent U.S. Senate race we have been reporting about for months will suddenly have an election date and a new incumbent, as Gov. Rick Perry will be able appoint someone to fill the term between the resignation and the special election.
Who would Perry pick? Many Republicans aeem to be waiting to see who Perry picks before they decide to back a candidate. If Perry picks someone like Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who would be able to self-finance his campaign with millions of dollars, it is hard to imagine Republican candidates who have so far been fundraising failures, like Railroad Commissioners Michael Williams and Elizabeth Ames Jones, being very competitive.
The campaign spokesman for former Secretary of State Roger Williams, who was a Perry apointee, recently speculated that Williams' relatively strong fundraising quarter could put him in a good position to receive the appointment. Clearly, Perry will be looking to back a winning horse and given his options, he may decide Dewhurst, for all the Lieutenant Governor's flaws, is his best bet.
Gardner Selby wrote last week that Perry was considering calling a special election much earlier than many had assumed, potentially calling for an election before the end of the year.
Under the law, if the governor determines that an emergency warrants holding a special election before the uniform election date, then it can be on a nonuniform date as long as the governor identifies the nature of the emergency.
Translation: The election can happen any day the governor pleases.
And should Hutchison step down, Perry would consider setting an election shortly. Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle told me, "If a vacancy were to occur, the governor would be inclined to call an election soon to ensure Texans are fully represented" in Washington.
While it is fun (and exhausting) to speculate about the many scenarios that could play out following Hutchison's resignation, we have learned over the years that with Hutchison there is often a disconnect between words and actions.
Sharp returned more than $90,000 to his contributors during the second quarter. So his net contributions for the period totaled -$45,000. These returned contributions were large checks — many of them for the per-election maximum of $2,400. And more than $70,000 of those returned contributions went back to employees, and family of employees, of Ryan and Co., the tax-consulting firm that employs Sharp.
Ryan and Co. employees (not their families) gave Sharp more than $150,000 in the first quarter of the year. So Sharp is not returning all of the money he got from them. But he is returning a lot of it, and it’s unclear why. Sharp’s campaign did not respond to questions about the contributions Thursday.
Of all the candidates running to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sharp has the second-most cash on hand with $2.9 million. But he also raised the least amount of money in the second quarter. He’s only financially competitive at the moment because he has loaned his own campaign $2.6 million. With the other Democrat in the race, Houston Mayor Bill White, leading the field in money raised, Sharp either isn’t trying to raise money or isn’t very good at it any more.
We will keep an eye on this story and update it when and if the Sharp campaign decides to respond to Mr. Embry's questions.
UPDATE: Sharp's campaign has now answered Embry's questions and he had a story about in this morning's Statesman. The story is excerpted below:
Democrat John Sharp returned more than $90,000 in campaign contributions in recent months after a colleague told donors the wrong date for when Sharp would be making his bid for the U.S. Senate, his campaign said Friday.
The former state comptroller is running to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who may soon resign her seat to run for governor. An election to replace her has not been set.
More than $70,000 of the money that Sharp returned went to employees and families of employees at Ryan, the Dallas-based tax consulting firm where he works.
"A well-intentioned colleague of Sharp's in Dallas sent out a fundraising solicitation to Ryan and Company directors but mistakenly listed a May 2009 election date," Sharp spokesman Kelly Fero said. "Sharp returned the checks so that no one would think they had been asked to give under a false pretext."
Some of the donors will wait until the election date is set and then contribute, Fero said.
So one fundraising solicitation from a colleague raised over $90,000 while Sharp, who has paid thousands of dollars to a fundraising consulting firm, raised only about $45,000 during the second quarter.
No, that is not a typo and I did not leave out an extra zero.
Last week, John Sharp's campaign released few details about his second quarter fundraising. Now we know why. The former Texas Comptroller raised only $45,000. Sharp loaned himself another $610,000, bringing his total personal loans over $2.6 million.
Of the $2.8 million Sharp reported having on hand, only about $555,000 of it has come from individuals. Of course, money is money and having $2.8 million on hand certainly buys Sharp time to get his fundraising in order.
While Sharp has loaned his campaign a substantial amount, unlike someone like Tony Sanchez, he does not have deep enough pockets to finance an entire statewide campaign. Also, Houston Mayor Bill White, the other Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, actually contributed more to his campaign than Sharp loaned to his in the second quarter.
So far Bill White has outraised John Sharp roughly $3.6 million to $555,000. In the second quarter, White raised more than 20 times the amount Sharp did.
Due to Sharp's large early loan, his $2.8 million on hand is relatively close to White's $3.4 million on hand. Sharp will need to significantly improve his fundraising in the coming months to maintain the difference between the two in the coming months.
Update: Just got to take a look at the Sharp's FEC report. His campaign refunded $90,2000 in c.ontributions during the quater. The campaign reports net contributions for the quarter at -$44,475. Yes, that's a negative number. Anybody know the story behind the refunded contributions?
Update 2: Sharp also made a partial loan repayment to himself of $1678.10.
Update 3: You can see a screenshot of the part of the FEC report pertaining to the negative net contributions here.
After U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter announced he would seek reelection as a Democrat, there is talk that his decision could have an affect on the upcoming U.S. Senate race here in Texas.
In January, Kay Bailey Hutchison had this to say to Politico:
“Really, I’m not going to have the impact [of giving Democrats 60 seats],” Hutchison said, moments after she held a long talk on the Senate floor with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “The impact is going to be the 2010 elections.”
With Sen. Specter's switch and Al Franken's (assumed) eventual seating, a Hutchison resignation would no longer result is giving Democrats 60 seats.
So, does that mean Hutchison could resign earlier? At this point, who knows.
But it does mean that the past rationale for her staying in the Senate is no longer so cut and dry. Rick Perry has been able to consolidate and inspire more support among the most conservative of Texas Republicans, the exact group he will need huge support from to win next March's Republican Primary.
Now that Specter has flipped, could Hutchison resign her Senate seat later this year to come home to Texas to focus on reclaiming the once solid lead she held in the polls?
While I typically focus on Senate races, the special election in New York's 20th Congressional district is an excellent opportunity to stick it to the Republican Party.
NY-20 is a Republican leaning district in voter registration, but has been recently represented by now-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and even narrowly supported now-President Barack Obama over John McCain.
The Democratic nominee, Scott Murphy, has turned a deficit in the polls into a narrow four-point lead over Republican Jim Tedisco. Momentum is on our side! A victory in this special election wouldn't just be a nice Democratic hold, but, since it is a Republican-leaning district, it would also be a major embarrassment for Republicans, particularly new RNC Chair Michael Steele.
How desperate are Republicans in this race? Well, they're very literally reduced to going with a noun, a verb, and 9-11 in flailingly attacking Murphy. And how loathsome is the Republican nominee? Even the Libertarian candidate, who was booted from the race after - it would appear - Republicans made a concerted effort to get enough Libertarian ballot signatures overturned, has endorsed Scott Murphy. (And it's one hell of an endorsement.)
The special election is this Tuesday! So what can you do to help?
This is a special election, so GOTV is everything. On Monday or Tuesday, if you can spend literally one single hour making calls, that could be the difference in a Republican pick-up versus a Republican embarrassment.
