It’s a little hard to remember amid all the primary excitement that we’re going to have a special election sometime this year to replace State Sen. Kyle Janek, who announced his resignation in January. Janek hasn’t formally resigned yet, so no special election date is set, but according to The County Seat, there appears to be a serious Republican contender out there, a fellow named Austen Furse. I’ve never heard of the gentleman, so I’ll leave you to peruse that link and this one from Chris Elam to acquaint yourself. No word yet on a Democratic hopeful; State Rep. Scott Hochberg’s name has been in the mix, but that’s all been speculation as far as I know.
Hochberg left me with the impression that his run for Senate hinges on the timing of the special election.
Something he said at the SD-17 convention on Saturday indicated that if the special is in November, he would have to resign his House seat (which is something, again, I don’t think he wants to do). But if it is scheduled by the governor earlier, then he wouldn’t violate that law about having your name on the ballot twice.
If I heard him (and understand it) correctly, anyway …
Austen Furse was also a speaker for the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club, which had this bio on him: