No write-in opponent for Sheila Jackson Lee

Okay.

After dangling the idea of running as a write-in candidate against U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, Houston restaurateur and prominent Barack Obama supporter Marcus Davis said today that such a candidacy would distract too much from the Obama effort.

"The price is too heavy to pay," he said, about 80 minutes before the deadline for filing a candidate application with the Texas Secretary of State's Office.

However, Davis also said that after the Nov. 4 election, he and other Jackson Lee constituents will make strong demands of her to improve her representation of the 18th Congressional District.

And he will help make contingency plans for a candidate to run against her in the 2010 Democratic primary, Davis said.

I heard about this possibility a long time ago, but never really gave it much thought, mostly because there were too many other races to worry about. For what it's worth, I don't have any particular complaints about Rep. Jackson Lee, who is my representative in Congress. She votes the way I want her to vote, and that's really all you can ask. I have noticed that she's been more visible at campaign events and the like than I recall her being in the past, and she's definitely been a strong supporter of Barack Obama at those events. I've said before that I think this sentiment will largely fade in the event of an Obama victory, and I still believe that. But if I'm wrong, the name that' I've heard being floated as a 2010 challenger to her is City Council Member Jarvis Johnson from District B.

I don't think a write-in challenge to Jackson Lee was ever going to be more than a distraction. But we don't really need any distractions this year, so I'm glad to hear that it won't happen.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 28, 2008 to Election 2008