Another special election?

We are already slated to have one special election to fill a state legislative seat. Now Chris Elam is reporting that we may have another.

Word out of Austin is that Pearland State Representative Mike O'Day will be resigning his HD29 seat by the end of this week. Dogged by rumors and reports of misconduct and inappropriate behavior ("ungentlemanly personal conduct" as reported by Paul Burka on his blog) during the recent legislative session, the buzz is that O'Day will step down from the seat to save face.

I've heard this from another source as well. It's all still rumor until someone holds a press conference, and one of Elam's commenters says O'Day will issue a press release denying this, so don't carve anything in stone just yet. Since O'Day has only held office since late January, I have to ask: What's the record for the shortest time anyone has been a State Rep? I'd have to think that O'Day would be a contender for that if he does step down.

If we do have a special election there, Republicans would be strongly favored to retain the seat (again). HD29 was a bit redder than the state as a whole last year. I don't consider that insurmountable, especially if some details about O'Day's alleged behavior were to come out, but a lot of things would have to go right for this to be a possible pickup. If January runoff loser Randy Webber (also a Republican) takes another shot at this, he should be a lock. We'll see what happens. Vince has more.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 18, 2007 to Election 2007