Not the one we’ve been waiting for.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday set a special election to replace former Texas Sen. Brian Birdwell for Election Day after the five-term Granbury Republican resigned in May to serve as a U.S. assistant secretary of defense.
Candidates for the special election in Senate District 22 must file applications with the Secretary of State by Aug. 20 and, if elected, would serve the rest of Birdwell’s term through Jan. 11.
State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, is running to replace Birdwell in the general election after decisively winning the GOP nomination for the seat in March. He will face off against Democrat Amy Martinez-Salas, a first-time candidate, on Nov. 3.
Birdwell was confirmed on a 46-43 vote in the U.S. Senate alongside several dozen other nominees on May 18. He previously worked as staff for the Department of the Army at the Pentagon, where he suffered severe burns when a plane crashed yards away from his office during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Birdwell announced in June that he would not seek reelection to Senate District 22, where he has served for 15 years. The White House announced Birdwell’s nomination in October.
That’s June of last year that he announced he wasn’t running. You may be wondering, as are Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Allison Campolo and Lone Star Left why Greg Abbott let that seat be vacant for almost three months before scheduling this election, and scheduling it two days before the November filing deadline. It’s not a swingy district: Based on 2024 results, it’s considerably redder than SD09, with Trump winning it by 28 points and Ted Cruz beating Colin Allred by 23, compared to margins of 17 and 12 in the latter. In 2018, Cruz beat Beto by almost 22 points in SD22 and 12 points in SD09. All I can say is that if Abbott was even distantly worried that Amy Martinez-Salas could pull a Taylor Rehmet-style upset here, then Republicans are in even deeper doo-doo than anyone is willing to admit.
You may also be wondering, as I was, what about CD23? It’s been vacant a month longer than SD22 has been, and unlike the State Senate, it’s in session. People have been waiting for an announcement about this election since April. For this, all I can say is that as of yesterday, no special election announcement. Maybe today, who can say. I hope Katy Padilla Stout has her form filled out and notarized and has a check written and ready to go as soon as it’s announced. There won’t be any time to waste. In the meantime, here’s more about Democratic candidate for SD22, Amy Martinez-Salas.
Gov. Abbott has an extensive polling operation, which may show that in a special election, both of these seats would flip to Democrats, but in the context of the state senate, which is not in session, the cost and administration of a separate election is more likely the explanation. Most observers agree that he has refused to call a special election for Congress District 23 because polling shows the Democrat could win, and the margins are so tight in the current Congress, just as he refused to call an earlier election for CD 18 and left that seat unfilled for a year.