AUSTIN – While voters rejected five House incumbents in Tuesday's primaries, every senator who filed to run for re-election was renominated – even one in Waco who stopped campaigning.

Experts said Wednesday that the primary election is unlikely to force changes in the Legislature's leadership.

Republicans have an edge of 77-73 in the House. But Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, may have increased his chances of winning a second term as the chamber's leader, one Republican consultant said.

"There was not a substantial shift in the numbers of moderate Republicans vs. conservative Republicans," said Todd Smith of Austin, who advises several GOP incumbents.

Last year, Straus won the speakership by fusing 11 GOP moderates with 64 Democrats to topple Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland. Straus was a relatively unknown and unseasoned lawmaker at the time.

"Straus probably gained ground in this election," Smith said.

House Democratic leader Jim Dunnam of Waco saw little impact on the race for the speakership but predicted that his party has "a very realistic and strong chance of picking up the House in November."

In Tuesday's primaries, 34 of the House's 150 members faced a primary opponent. In the Senate, four of the 14 incumbent senators who are up this year and who filed for re-election had a challenger.

All survived, including Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco. Averitt, who in January halted efforts to win another four-year term, carried 60 percent of the vote against Burleson insurance and real estate agent Darren Yancy.

Averitt, who cited health reasons for his departure, has not said what he intends to do now that he has won the primary.

If he formally withdraws at least 74 days before the Nov. 2 general election, county chairmen of both parties in the district's 10 counties would pick nominees for the fall, two Republican election lawyers said.

Dunnam said local issues, not a national or state political climate hostile to Democrats, produced this week's primary defeats of three Democratic incumbents. They were Reps. Al Edwards, of Houston; Dora Olivo, of Rosenberg; and Tara Rios Ybarra, of South Padre Island.

"I would have a reaction if we saw exterior forces at play in the outcomes of these races," Dunnam said. "I don't see that, and that's good news for Democrats in the fall."

On the GOP side, Rep. Tommy Merritt, of Longview, lost to Longview tree farmer and business executive David Simpson. The challenger was backed by Tea Party groups.

Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, who had supported Craddick in recent speaker's contests, lost to Terrell insurance consultant Lance Gooden, a former aide to Brown.

In Lubbock, longtime Rep. Delwin Jones, a Straus ally, was forced into a GOP runoff with Charles Perry, an accountant and Tea Party activist.

"The Tea Party folks, they were a huge disappointment," Smith said. "They were visible in two places, Lubbock and Longview. But other than that, I didn't see them really being a force to be reckoned with."

Rep. Chuck Hopson, an East Texas Democrat who switched to the GOP last year, fended off two Republicans and avoided a runoff.

Print

Create A Screen Name

Screen names can only consist of letters and numbers.
Your screen name will appear to everyone.
NOTE: You cannot change, delete,
or edit your screen name once you hit "Save".

---

Leave Comment

Having problems seeing comments?

Close

Supported Browsers

• Internet Explorer 7+
• FireFox 3+
• Safari

If you are using Internet Explorer 7, make sure Phishing Filter is turned off by going to Tools / Phishing Filter / Turn Off Automatic Website Checking.

If you are using Internet Explorer 8, make sure InPrivate Filtering is turned off and InPrivate Filtering data has been cleared. To turn off InPrivate Filtering go to Tools / InPrivate Filtering Settings, select the "off" button and click "OK".

To clear InPrivate Filtering data

• Go to Tools / Internet Options
• Click on the "Delete" button in the center of the General tab.
• Make sure "Preserve Favorites website data" is unchecked.
• Make sure "InPrivate Filtering data" is checked
• Click the "Delete" button.
• Click the "OK" button to exit the internet options window.
• Refresh the page

Guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, but for the sake of all readers, please refrain from the use of obscenities, personal attacks or racial slurs. All comments are subject to our terms of service and may be removed. Repeat offenders may lose commenting privileges.

You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!

You are logged in as screenname | Log Out

You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Create a Screen Name