Filing news: Missing in action

Earlier, I listed a group of incumbents who were not listed on their state party's webpage as having filed for reelection. All of them have filed, and the one open seat is being contested, but it's still the case that some of these districts are listed as having no contenders on either or both of the parties' candidate filing pages. I'll get to that in a minute, but for now, here's what I've found about these seats:

HD24 - Larry Taylor (R): Filed for reelection, no Democratic opponent.
HD33 - Vilma Luna (D): Now listed on the Dems who have filed page. No GOP opponent.
HD34 - Abel Herrero (D): Now listed on the Dems who have filed page. No GOP opponent.
HD37 - Rene Oliveira (D): Apparently running for reelection, though this letter-writer has the incorrect district number.
HD38 - Open (D): Four Dems and one Republican are vying to replace the retiring Jim Solis:

Eddie Lucio [III, son of State Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.], D-Brownsville, is considered by many to be a front-runner because of his family’s wide political influence.

Also running are Arnie Olivarez, an insurance agent from Harlingen; David Gonzales, first assistant to the Cameron County district attorney; and Alfredo Montano, an attorney from Harlingen.

Luis Cavazos, an independent businessman from Brownsville, is the lone Republican who in November will face the winner of the March Democratic primary.

HD42 - Richard Raymond (D): Running for reelection. No GOP opponent, not sure about primary competition - Texas Tuesdays still lists three other Dems, but they were listed before he dropped out of the CD28 race.
HD65 - Burt Solomons (R): Now listed on the state GOP candidate page.
HD74 - Pete Gallego (D)): Now listed on the Dems who have filed page. No GOP opponent.
HD90 - Lon Burnam (D): Running for reelection
HD95 - Marc Veasey (D): Running for reelection
HD100 - Terri Hodge (D): Running for reelection
HD104 - Roberto Alonzo (D)): Running for reelection
HD123 - Mike Villareal (D)): Running for reelection

The five Harris County GOP candidates (HD128 - Wayne Smith, HD130 - Corbin Van Arsdale, HD132 - Bill Callegari, HD135 - Gary Elkins, and HD138 - Dwayne Bohac) are all on the Harris County GOP candidates page.

All right, at least we have that settled. The next question to ask is where each party screwed up by not contesting a winnable district. For example, the Monitor story about HD38 also says this:

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, will not face a Republican challenger, despite efforts by Republicans to find an opponent. The district is arguably the most conservative in the Valley.

Republicans hoped to challenge her with Roy Martinez, a former Channel 4 anchorman, but he and others decided not to run, said Hollis Rutledge, Hidalgo County Republican chairman.

This is as noted before a very purple district, in an area where the GOP would love to make some inroads, so it's quite a pleasant surprise to see Gonzalez get a skate. Another one that would be a missed opportunity for the GOP is HD01 up in Texarkana, where freshman Democrat Stephen Frost won 53-47 in 2004. Despite the fact that Bush carried this district by a 62-38 margin (Carillo beat Scarborough 51-49; Brister and Keasler each got 57%), Frost has no GOP opponent that I can find as yet. I'll try to report on this in the next day or two. If anyone can help me fill in the blanks on the party filings pages so I don't go on any wild goose chases, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 04, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack