The 2014 Democratic statewide ballot

This first in a series reveals a decent ticket for the Blue team. Not bad at all; just a few warts.  Where the candidate's name is hot-linked, you will find additional information, which may be a post of mine, their website or Facebook page, or some other online news.

First, the good...

US Senate

David Alameel
Maxey Scherr
Michael “Fjet” Fjetland
Kesha Rogers
Harry Kim

I think that list is representative, at least for today, of how the order of finish will be in March.  Alameel will put a substantial amount of his $50 million fortune into the race; Scherr will run a progressive populist campaign (she is already), Fjetland will stress his international experience and moderate Democrat background, and the other two candidates (appearing in 'ugly' and 'bad', respectively) will do whatever they will.

Any of these three should be able to acquit themselves honorably in November, and if Steve Stockman pulls off an upset of John Cornyn in the GOP primary, could actually have a hell of a chance to be the next senator from the Great State.  Wouldn't that be something.

Update: Be sure and read Ted at jobsanger's post: "Texas Democrats have 1 Progressive, 1 Unknown, 2 Blue Dogs, & 1 Nutcase Running For Senate".

Governor

Wendy Davis
Reynaldo “Ray” Madrigal

Lieutenant Governor
Leticia Van de Putte

Attorney General

Sam Houston

Comptroller
Michael Collier

Land Commissioner
John Cook

Agriculture Commissioner
Hugh Fitzsimons
Jim Hogan
Richard “Kinky’ Friedman

Railroad Commissioner
Steve Brown
Dale Henry

Supreme Court, Chief Justice
William Moody

Supreme Court, Place 6
Lawrence “Larry” Meyers

Supreme Court, Place 7
Gina Benavides

Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3
John Granberg

This likewise is a reasonably strong slate.  With the non-filing of Maria Luisa Alvarado in the lite guv race, only Collier and Granberg have no prior experience as an elected official* (a qualification possessed even by gubernatorial challenger Madrigal, who is mentioned here as a magistrate judge from Sea Drift, near Corpus Christi).  The ticket is unfortunately bereft of African American candidates, save Ms. Rogers and Mr. Brown. From BOR, this with regard to Fitzsimons.

Hugh A. Fitzsimons has filed to run for Texas Agricultural Commissioner. He is from Carrizo Springs, Texas and is a fifth generation rancher. He currently raises bison with Thunderheart Bison. Mr. Fitsimmons (sic) currently sits on the Wintergarden Water Conservation District and has said water and responsible environmental protection will be some of the main issues behind his campaign. You can read more about Mr. Fitzsimmons (sic) in the following New York Times article on water fracking in Texas.

... and this on Granberg.

He is a lawyer from El Paso who practices criminal law at the state and federal level. He is licensed to practice in both Texas and New Mexico. Mr. Granberg had previously run for a Justice of the Peace position in El Paso many years ago. 

One of the things that stands out to me is that El Paso is ably represented on this slate, with Scherr, Moody, Cook, and Granberg.  More to come about candidates down the Harris County ballot, and other parts of Texas after that.

*Not quite. Some corrections appear in the comments.

Update: And read this also from Battleground Texas about Judge Meyers: The Switch.

Texas Green Party fields over 50 candidates for 2014

Socratic Gadfly was first, and The Texas Tribune has left all of them off their brackets so far, but from the inbox...

The Texas Green Party has recruited more than 50 candidates for state and local office across Texas to occupy the ballot in 2014. This is historically the largest number of Green Party candidates that will appear on the ballot in Texas.

"We are very excited to be running so many principled progressive candidates throughout the state," said David Wager, co-chair of the Texas Green Party.

"Our goal is to provide a progressive alternative to the other two parties in Texas and offer voters more voices and more choices than they might otherwise have on the ballot," Wager said.

The most widely known candidate is food safety advocate and whistleblower Kenneth Kendrick of Wilson, who is running for Agriculture Commissioner.

Kendrick was a former manager of a Plainview peanut plant, operated by the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America, where he alerted authorities and the public regarding alleged food safety violations. PCA went bankrupt after a nationwide salmonella outbreak that was traced to the Plainview plant. Seven people died and hundreds suffered from severe illness.

Many Green candidates, including Martina Salinas of Fort Worth, who is campaigning for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, advocate regulating, limiting, or banning the oil and gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing.

"With our state's future and the future of our families in mind, we need to hold all fracking operations, especially waste water disposal, to a high standard," said Salinas. "Even if it means stopping operations, we must ensure that our children's children and beyond can enjoy the beauty that is Texas."

Other Green candidates for statewide office include Emily Marie Sanchez of Del Rio for United States Senate; Brandon Parmer of Dallas for Governor; Chandrakantha Courtney of Houston for Lt. Governor; Jamar Osborne of Dallas for Attorney General; Deb Shafto of Houston for Comptroller; and Ulises Cabrera of Bryan for General Land Commissioner.

A full list of candidates will be released and a press conference held on Thursday in cities across the state. Details to follow.

Parmer ran against Joe Barton in CD-6 two years ago.  Courtney's husband, David, ran in 2012 for state Senate against Joan Huffman (garnering almost 9% of the vote without a Democrat in the race).  Shafto was the Greens' candidate for state representative against Garnet Coleman two years ago, and the party's candidate for governor four years ago.

No mention here about statewide judicial candidates, which would appear to be key to securing ballot access in 2016.  In 2012, two Greens cleared the 5% threshold for the party to acquire ballot access this election season; one was Charles Waterbury, who ran for state Supreme Court.  Texas Democrats left vacant the Place 8 slot on the SCOTX, and two positions on the state's Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 and Place 9.  If there is a Green running for those, then the absence of a D is usually enough for the GPTX to clear the ballot-access bar.

I'm also looking forward to the reveal of the Congressional candidates, as I heard some interesting rumors about a challenge to Sheila Jackson Lee.  According to my sources it's Remington Alessi, who ran against Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia in 2012.  Another intriguing campaign will be David Collins' bid for Harris County Judge.  The Democratic candidate in that race has been already been disparaged by the mighty Kuffner (scroll down to the third paragraph after the excerpt there).  I would expect Charles to vote for the Republican before he voted for a Green Democrat he didn't like, as he did in the last cycle in the DA's race.

More on the Democrats' filings, state and local, later today tomorrow.

Update: Via Indy Political Report, the Texas Libertarians.  They can also be found on the TexTrib's brackets at the top link.

Update II: Video of the Webb County Green Party press conference, en Espanol.  And the Laredo Morning Times...

Democratic incumbents U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, State Rep. Richard Raymond and State Rep. Tracy King were all expected to run unopposed.

However three candidates from the Green Party announced Monday that they plan to challenge each representative for their respective seats. Michael D. Cary of San Antonio will look to unseat Cuellar, who has held the office since 2005...

Both King and Raymond will be challenged by Green Party newcomers Marco Buentello and Nicolas Serna III for their respective district seats. King has represented District 80 for nearly 20 years while Raymond has been in office since 2001.

"I'm a little teapot"

I'm telling you, start ordering your popcorn by the boxcar...

Stockman will primary Cornyn

Get your corn popped now.

Stockman, 57, walked into the Texas Republican Party headquarters in Austin at about 5:45 p.m. — 15 minutes before the filing deadline — and withdrew his filing for his congressional seat, then filed a new application as a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, said Spencer Yeldell, a GOP spokesman. “Until then, it was a pretty laid-back day,” Yeldell said.

 Taegan Goddard links to WND for the exclusive (I won't):

Stockman blamed the incumbent GOP senator for undermining Sen. Ted Cruz's "fight to stop Obamacare."

Said Stockman: "We are extremely disappointed in the way he treated his fellow congressmen and broke the 11th commandment and undermined Ted Cruz's fight to stop Obamacare. And now, it looks like Cruz was right and Cornyn was wrong. He sided with the president, essentially, in making sure Obamacare became law while Cruz did everything possible to stop it."  

This is going to be some funny shit.  Once Cornyn pinches off that brick, he'll get to work Tweeting some more insanity to the far right.  As for the Congressional seat Stockman leaves behind, there remain three Republicans who filed in CD-36: John Amdur, Phil Fitzgerald, and Kim Morrell.  (Update: This, from Texas on the Potomac, adds the additional names of Chuck Meyer, Doug Centilli -- who is believed to be the chief of staff for Cong. Kevin Brady -- and Dave Norman.  Unless these freaks start cannibalizing each other before next March, I won't post on them again until two of them are in a runoff.)

John Amdar, an attorney from Houston and city council member in nearby Nassau Bay, has filed for the seat. So has Phil Fitzgerald, who owns a construction business in Hull.

Also in the running is Kim Morrell, who ran for the seat in 2012. He’s a former city councilman in Seabrook who owns a printing and shipping company. Morrell says he’s pro-life, pro-gun, and against Obamacare. He’d been thinking about running again for a long time, he said, but Stockman’s Senate run convinced him.

“My sources told me Steve wasn’t going to run for the seat, and so I made a last-minute decision to run,” he said. He says he’s hired a campaign manager and hopes to have the rest of his team put together very soon.

And Michael Cole has filed, this time as a Democrat.

Meanwhile, Michael Cole has had his eye on the heavily-Republican district since 2012, when he ran as a Libertarian. He got about 6,000 votes in that election.

Now Cole, a 38-year-old teacher from Orange, Texas, is running again as a Democrat. He says he has a campaign team in place, has been crisscrossing the district, and is about to file his first report on fundraising to the Federal Elections Commission. He said he’d focus on getting things done and charged outgoing Stockman with wasting time on politics.

“I can listen to what my constituents want instead of just showboating against Barack Obama,” he said, noting that his major focus would be on middle-class job growth.

Cole explains his conversion from Lib to Dem here.  Update: This Daily Kos diarist has written a few about a Cole, with some links and embedded video.

Things just got a lot more fun for those of us who track these things.

Update: So if anybody else wants to file as a Repuke in CD-36... you still have some time to do so.  Thanks, GOP!

CCA Judge Meyers switches parties, to run for SCOTX as Democrat

Burnt Orange, Quorum Report, and PoliTex appear to have it first.

Longtime Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence "Larry" Meyers announced Monday that he is leaving the Republican Party to run as a Democrat for the Texas Supreme Court.

Meyers, of Fort Worth, filed Monday on the last day of filing to seek Place 6 on the Supreme Court, currently held by Jeff Brown.

How long ago did I say that there would need to be a lot more of this sort of thing before the media people would start sitting up and taking notice?  About six weeks.

Meyers was rumored to have contemplated switching parties two years ago.  The significance of his flip today is that he will still be on the CCA as a Democrat even if he does not prevail in his bid for election to the state Supreme Court.  So the Dems just picked up a statewide officeholder.  More filing updates later.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is doing its best to stay warm as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff highlights the introductory campaign video by Senate candidate Maxey Scherr, who vividly links her opponent Sen. John Cornyn to his junior master, Sen. Ted Cruz.

Texpatriate opened voting for its 2nd Annual Person of the Year contest. Please consider voting for who YOU think had the biggest impact on Houston and Texas politics by clicking on the link!

Eye On Williamson is still, yes still, blogging at our temporary home. Without any new ideas, the Texas GOP resorts to scare tactics: Fear and the Texas GOP.

Nelson Mandela and the life he lived taught us much about human rights and peaceful protest, observed PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, but the conservative response to his passing taught us almost as much about them.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks that the GOP candidates for lieutenant governor are vying for king of the racist homophobes, aka the Republican base. Will David Dewhurst outdo Todd Staples?

Neil at All People Have Value posted a picture of the oldest structure in Harris County, Texas. The longstanding virtues of home and family are only strengthened when we add the more modern values of full inclusion for all our fellow human beings. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Austin Contrarian explains the difference between "filtering up" and a general rise in rents.

Robb Fickman concludes that one of the biggest problems in our criminal justice system continues to be how we treat the poor.

Paul Burka eulogizes Texas historian T. R. Fehrenbach.

Zippidy Doo Dah gives an update on Rep. Steve Stockman.

Lone Star Ma criticizes the principal that forbade students from speaking Spanish at school.

The Bloggess promotes her annual holiday philanthropy project.