I’ve taken a bit of a break, but continuing my series of Congressional races across Texas is still on my to-do list. I’ve hit South, West, East, and North so far. Texas is tough in a lot of places. Our biggest problem is not the quantity of Republicans as much as it’s the apathy of so many voters (many Democratic). Two thirds of the electorate sat out of the 2014 races, and well, that hurts. A lot.
Turning our attention to the Dallas / Fort Worth area, we’ve got these seats up for grabs:
CD-03
Plano and McKinney are the larger cities in CD-03. The incumbent is Republican Sam Johnson, who has been there since 1991 and is currently 85 years old. On the Republican side, he’s being challenged by David Cornette, Keith L. Thurgood, and John Calvin Slavens. Each challenger is running to the right of the incumbent.
Two Democrats are running: Michael A Filak and Adam P. Bell.
CD-12
The 12th Congressional District is held by Kay Granger, a Republican first elected in 1996. She faces Democratic challenger Bill Bradshaw. I can’t find much on Mr. Bradshaw, and it’s not looking good for a pickup seat. Mark Greene ran a spirited race against Granger in 2014, and received 26.3% in a mid-term year. It’s a shame that he didn’t take another run, but at least it’s not totally unopposed.
CD-24
Kenny E. Marchant is the Republican incumbent, and he’ll face Democrat Jan McDowell in November. Both are unopposed in the Primary. This covers Tarrant, Denton, and Dallas Counties.
CD-26
Republican Incumbent Michael Burgess faces two challengers in Joel A. Krause and Micah Beebe. In November, he’ll face Democrat Eric Mauck. It’s going to be a hard fight, but I’m glad to see someone taking it on.
CD-30
Thirteen-term Democratic Incumbent Eddie Bernice Johnson faces a returning Primary challenge in Barbara Mallory Caraway, and this year we also see Brandon J. Vance running in the Democratic Primary. It seems quite likely that Representative Johnson will keep her seat. The winner of the Democratic Primary will face Charles Lingerfelt, the only Republican to file to run.
CD-32
Cherie Myint Roughneen, Paul Brown, and Russ Ramsland are all challenging Incumbent Republican Pete Sessions. All three are political neophytes, and run even further right that Sessions while having no political acumen. There is no Democratic challenger at all. I expect Sessions to have an easy time of it.
CD-33
Democrat Mark Veasey is running again for the 33rd. He’ll face off against the winner between Bruce Chadwick and Mark Mitchell, two self-funded Republicans who are not inspiring any confidence in their ability to represent the district in the slightest. It’s almost certainly a safe seat, but hey, don’t forget to vote for him anyway!