Part 1 is here. So far I haven’t found much that wasn’t known at deadline time. It’s an odd year for there to be so few true last-minute surprises, but here we are. A few items to note:
– There’s a number of notable omissions on the SOS candidate filings page for Democrats, such as Jasmine Crockett for Senate, Julie Johnson and Colin Allred for CD33, while Marc Veasey is still listed there, so I don’t want to make any final statements about who’s running for what yet. I do think there’d be a story if say Rep. Lizzie Fletcher had picked up a primary opponent or if someone else had jumped into CD18, so I’m assuming for now there’s just a few lags in the system. But it’s possible there’s still some news here.
– On that score, this Community Impact article rounds up who’s listed on the SOS pages as having filed for statewide office. Note again the omission of Rep. Crockett; this told me nothing I didn’t already know, but at least they compiled it all.
– So far, the statewide situation looks like this:
Seven candidates for Governor; as noted yesterday, Benjamin Flores moved to the Land Commissioner race.
Three candidates for Lite Guv, State Rep. Vikki Goodwin and two people I’ve never heard of.
Three candidates for Attorney General – Joe Jaworski, State Sen. Nathan Johnson, and Anthony Box.
Three candidates for Comptroller – Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, Michael Lange, and HISD Trustee Savant Moore, whose entry into this race was news to me.
Two candidates for Land Commissioner, the aforementioned Benjamin Flores and Jose Loya, who appears to be a legislative staffer.
Clayton Tucker (Ag Commissioner) and State Rep. Jon Rosenthal (RR Commissioner) are unopposed, as far as I can tell at this time.
– The statewide judicial situation is confusing. In October I noted the launch of a statewide judicial slate. That was before the opening of the filing period, so perhaps things happened along the way. The only candidates I saw as of yesterday on the SOS page were Maggie Ellis, for Chief Justice; Kristen Hawkins, current District Court judge in Harris County, for Supreme Court Place 7; and Holly Taylor, for CCA Place 9. Only Taylor is on that statewide slate. I searched for the other candidates listed on the slate and found campaign websites for all of the Supreme Court candidates except Gordon Goodman – Holly Taylor was the only CCA candidate with a website – so I suspect this is another example of lagging. But put a pin in it just in case.
– There will be lots of contested judicial primaries in Harris County. I’ll skip an accounting of this for now, but know that I’ll be sending out judicial Q&As in the very near future.
– No further updates on other local races. This Chron story has a few words about Matthew Salazar, the third Democratic candidate for Harris County Judge. No new candidates I am aware of, Teneshia Hudspeth and Carla Wyatt and both County Commissioners remain unopposed. I’m also trying to figure out what my interview schedule will look like – first things first, I have to decide which races to interview in, as there’s only so much time and only one of me. I’ll be getting on that ASAP as well.
– The one minor late surprise was on the Republican side, where an old familiar face once again emerged from under a rock.
Former Republican Rep. Steve Stockman, who spent time in both the House and federal prison, launched yet another comeback bid just ahead of Monday’s filing deadline.
Stockman, dubbed “Congressman Clueless” by Texas Monthly after he lucked into a House seat during the 1994 GOP wave, was just as quickly swept out two years later. He worked his way back into the House in 2012 but pursued a hopeless Senate bid rather than run for another term.
Stockman was later convicted of fraud and sentenced to 10 years behind bars, but his sentence was commuted by Donald Trump in 2020. He faces several other notable Republicans who are hoping to flip the Houston-area 9th District, which is now an open seat thanks to the extreme GOP gerrymander that drove Democratic Rep. Al Green to seek reelection in the 18th District instead.
Death, taxes, and Steve Stockman. Everything old is new again. The Downballot had noted this possibility earlier, but it was during Thanksgiving week and I was too turkey-addled to write about it. But here we are, and the absolute funniest thing that could happen would be for Stockman to beat out Briscoe Cain and Alexandra Mealer, two of the twerpiest candidates on the ballot. Stockman was batshit crazy before it was cool. He’s forgotten more conspiracy theories than they’ll ever believe. Truly, the candidate that Harris County Republicans deserve.
I’ll keep coming back to this until we’re sure everything is finalized. Let me know if there’s something that looks missing or outdated to you. Lone Star Left notes another candidate to be warned about, and Daily Kos writes about the Senate primary.