Former Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican who lost re-election last year after 22 years of representing the Dallas-based 32nd District, confirmed on Wednesday that he’d be moving 100 miles to the south to run for the open and considerably more conservative 17th District. Sessions was born and raised in Waco, the city he said he hopes to relocate to later this month, but he hasn’t lived there since he was in eighth grade.
Sessions (who, by the by, looks like he's about to get dragged into the Trump-Ukraine impeachment morass) argued, though, that he had ties to the area he wants to represent. The former congressman recounted his memories of when Baylor University, which is located in Waco, won high-profile football games in 1966 and 1974.
Sessions also mentioned that he’d once represented at least part of six of the seat’s 12 counties before redistricting, which is true. However, the last time Sessions was on the ballot anywhere in what is now the 17th District was 2000, before the 2002 round of redistricting left him with a seat based entirely in the Dallas area. Only about 3% of the 17th District is in the Dallas media market, so not many voters have seen much of Sessions on TV over the years.
Meanwhile, Sessions’ would-be successor, retiring Rep. Bill Flores, was very unhappy with his former colleague’s move. Flores told the Austin-American Statesman that he spoke to 50 to 60 local GOP leaders to see what they thought about Sessions running in the 17th District, and “feedback I got was overwhelmingly negative.”
Flores continued, “This district is blessed with a deep bench of local leadership talent that has lived, worked, raised families and served in our local communities, and so the feedback is that it’s insulting to them that someone from outside the district would come in and tell them to stand aside while he attempts to jump to the front of the line.”
Flores reiterated that Sessions hadn’t called him before deciding to run in his turf. However, Flores seemed determined to make sure that the former congressman―as well as the rest of the political world―got to hear what he would have told him if he’d asked. Flores read one email from a GOP leader about Sessions that went, “I think his even considering running here is disturbing. His reputation in Dallas among people I know to be reasonable was — inaccessible. His constituents did not believe their interests were considered.” The missive continued, “He shows up at election time, kind of. That is not the kind of second-hand representation I would support.”
Flores didn’t stop there. He showed the Statesman another message he said was sent to him from a business leader in McLennan County, which contains Sessions’ once-and-future home of Waco. He read, “In response to your email concerning Pete Sessions. Terrible idea. Period. Sessions needs to win back his seat if he want [sic] to continue serving.” The email went on, “He would hang his hat on being ‘from’ Waco, but truth is few would claim him and those that would are likely to change their position after getting to know him. Pete’s time has passed and he needs to move on.”
Flores himself said that he’d do what he could to make sure that a local Republican wins the nomination next year. So far, though, Sessions has the field almost to himself. The only other declared candidate is Marine veteran Trent Sutton, an Iraq War veteran who entered the contest on Tuesday. Flores’ district director, James Edge, considered getting in, but he said on Wednesday that he wouldn’t run to succeed his old boss.
Texas’ candidate filing deadline is in early December, so potential contenders have a bit longer to decide. Flores insisted on Wednesday that the current dearth of local contenders wasn’t anything to be concerned about, though. He said, “I announced four weeks ago today that I was not going to run, and then I immediately reached out to our local leaders and said, ‘I am in session for the next three weeks, but I will set up workshops for prospective candidates just as soon as we get back into Texas.’”
Flores said he had the first of these workshops Monday, which was just one day before the news broke that Sessions would run here. He added that he and other leaders had met with over 15 prospective candidates, though he didn’t identify any of them.
Whoever ends up running will likely face one serious disadvantage against the carpetbagging former congressman, though. Sessions still has about $330,000 left in his campaign account that he somehow didn’t manage to spend during his 2018 contest to keep his old 32nd District (Sessions lost that battle to Democrat Colin Allred 52-46), which will give him a big head start.
Sessions also chaired the NRCC during the 2010 and 2012 cycles, so he has access to plenty of donors. Indeed, one of the Republicans Sessions’ committee aided in 2010 was none other than Bill Flores, who does not seem particularly grateful for the $475,000 that the NRCC deployed to help him unseat Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards.
However, unlike in most other states, Sessions can’t just claim the GOP nod with a plurality of the vote in a crowded field. If no one takes a majority in early March, there would be a GOP primary runoff nearly three months later in late May. That means that, if Sessions is forced into a second round, his opponent will have quite a while to consolidate support from voters and donors who aren’t enthusiastic about a Sessions comeback in a completely different seat.
While Sessions ran a weak campaign last year to keep the 32nd District, he probably would win a general election in the 17th District, a seat that backed Donald Trump 56-39. However, GOP Sen. Ted Cruz carried it by a narrower 54-45 spread two years later (Democrat Beto O’Rourke took the 32nd by a 55-44 margin), so it’s possible that a lousy GOP candidate could give Democrats an opening. Sessions may just fit that bill.
Want more great elections coverage like this? Sign up for our free daily newsletter, the Morning Digest.
LINK
LINK
No comments:
Post a Comment