Here’s a nice slice of news from Texas tonight: Dems have picked up a Republican open seat in the Texas state legislature, with Democrat Dan Barrett winning with 52% of the vote in a 61% GOP-performing district in Fort Worth. The Republican margin of control in the state House is now 79-71.
Burnt Orange Report has more. Congratulations to Texas Dems for another well-earned victory!
This supports my theory that many of the future Democratic gains will come from the sunbelt.
I’m proud to say I was one who voted for Barrett today. This is a very Republican district and it was a big uphill battle for Barrett to win. To some degree, I think there is simply much more enthusiasm on the Democratic side right now (my unofficial yard sign count while driving around this weekend was Barrett 12-Shelton 4). Since this was a special election and turnout is so important, I think this greater enthusiasm on our side made the difference. Republicans will definitely contest this district in the November 2008 general election and it will be a tough battle. But this is a very positive sign for Democrats in Tarrant County and it’s nice to win one here for a change!
This is a list I compiled of state house seats coming for 2008 that Texas Dems have a chance of picking up. Remember, Democrats picked up every seat they contested in Dallas County in 2006 and are aiming to take the remainder in 2008. This year, Texas’ ground zero battleground is Harris County (Houston) so expect a lot of our gains to come out of those two areas.
I helped block walk for Dan in October, so I am very proud of this win. Good luck to us Texas Dems for the next year. We need those last five seats quite badly (as well as we need to clean house of a few of our own). Here’s my list as to where we should go from here.
NAME – District #; 2006 Percentage, Area of Texas
Hamilton -19; 57.4-42.6, North of Beaumont
Krusee – 52; 50.4-44.2, North of Austin/Travis County – rumored retirement
Miller – 59; 55.5-44.5, Comanche/SW of Tarrant C.
Crownover – 64; 59.91-40.08, Denton
Haggerty – 78; Unopposed, El Paso
Zedler – 96; 54.2-45.8, Southern Tarrant Co.
Goolsby – 102; 51.93-45.81, NE Dallas/Garland
Harper-Brown – 105; 57.3-42.7, Irving (Dallas Co.)
Branch – 108; 58.1-41.9, Highland Park (Dallas)
Crabb – 127; 59.2-40.8, NE Harris
Davis – 129; 57.7-42.3, SE Harris
Murphy – 133; 57.2-42.8, Downtown Houston
Bohac – 138; 60.1-39.9, NW City of Houston
Open (Talton) – 144; 56.3-40.6; Pasadena