Rep. Bill Flores
U.S. Rep. Bill Flores announced Wednesday morning that he would not run for reelection in 2020 — making him the fifth Texas Republican to announce his retirement from Congress.
“Serving my country as the Representative of the hardworking Texas families in the 17th Congressional District has been an honor and one of the greatest privileges of my life,” Flores said in a statement. “Following the end of my current term in January 2021, I look forward to spending much more time with my family and our grandchildren,” he said in a statement. “I also intend to resume business activities in the private sector and to stay politically active on a federal, state and local level.”
Flores joins several other Texas Republicans in Congress who are not running for reelection — U.S. Reps. Kenny Marchant, Pete Olson, Mike Conaway and Will Hurd.
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Flores represents the 17th district, which stretches across a swath of Central Texas encompassing Waco, College Station and a small cut of north Austin. It is a reliably conservative district, and unlike the districts of several of the departing GOP Texans, the 17th did not see a marked Democratic surge in the 2018 midterms. His departure does not seem to be one of retreat in the face of steeper reelection odds.
A surge, no, but 2018 was a high water mark for Dems in CD17:
Year CCA R CCA D
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2012 57.9% 38.1%
2014 62.4% 33.5%
2016 58.9% 36.5%
2018 55.6% 41.7%
2018 Sen 54.3% 44.8%
The CCA numbers all come from races with a Republican, a Democrat, and a Libertarian. I included the Beto-Cruz race at the bottom for comparison. CD17 was never on the radar, in part because it was and is more Republican than other contested districts, and in part because 2018 Dem candidate Rick Kennedy didn’t raise much money. Kennedy is running again, but Flores’ departure may draw the interest of someone who can run more vigorously. That person will have to be a self-starter because this race will not get any national interest – if CD17 is seen as competitive, then Dems are already likely to flip a bunch of seats – but CD17 includes all of HD14, which is a Dem target for the Lege, so having a strong candidate here has ancillary benefits. I’ll be interested to see who emerges on both sides. Daily Kos, Think Progress, and the Texas Signal have more.
“Five for Fleeing” — I see what you did there. 😉
Like rats off a sinking ship.
Just like a rising tide lifting all ships, the GOP’ers up for re-election are hamstrung by POTUS and the Country’s outrage over his incompetence/inability to act Presidential. At some point, the joy of him flooding the Courts with conservative judges and making zero effort to stem gun violence is overshadowed by him taking a Sharpie to a hurricane map, promoting his golf course for the next G7, and toilet tweeting outrage at those who disagree with him.