It’s Erica Lee Carter and two people you’ve never heard of.
Erica Lee Carter
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s daughter, Erica Lee Carter, will be the only Democrat on the ballot seeking to finish the late congresswoman’s term, priming Carter for a few weeks in Congress as a bridge to a candidate who will fill a full term.
At the special election filing deadline at 6 p.m. Thursday evening, Carter was one of three candidates — the other two are Republicans — running to succeed her mother in the Houston-based district. If elected on Nov. 5, Carter would serve until the next Congress is sworn in on Jan. 5.
As of now, Carter will face Republicans Maria Dunn and Kevin Dural in the heavily Democratic district.
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For the special election, a candidate must avoid a runoff by winning a majority of the vote to be sworn in at all, given that a special election wouldn’t take place until after the general election victor is sworn in.
In a statement when Carter announced her candidacy, she said Democrats should unite to “regain their vote.” Democratic officials in Houston, including those who sought to be the replacement nominee, endorsed Carter for the special election.
After officials selected Turner as the new Democratic general election nominee by 41 votes to 37, beating out former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards, he told the Tribune he supported Carter on the special election ballot.
“It would be a fitting tribute to the legacy of the congresswoman for her daughter to serve out the remainder of her term,” Turner said.
Edwards said she would support the Democratic ticket.
See here for the background. I fully expect Carter to win on November 5, which is the best possible outcome. I couldn’t find any information about candidate Maria Dunn online, though I did find a voter registration for someone with that name at the same address as the one on the SOS candidate listing for the special election. As for As for Kevin Dural, he has an address listed in The Woodlands and no Harris County voter registration that I could find. Which is fine, per the Constitution all he needs to be is a resident of Texas. He has a website with no biographical information, and a quote from a news story about the precinct chair election that makes it sound like he thinks he’s running against Sylvester Turner. Hey, I get it, this has been confusing for us all.
What is now confusing me is this:
A second special election will take place in McLennan County, where Republican Waco businessman Pat Curry and Democratic attorney Erin Shank will fight in both the special and general election contests on Nov. 5.
The special election is to fill out the term of Rep. Doc Anderson in HD56, who recently resigned after previously announcing his retirement. How is it that they can be on both the special election and general election ballots, and not Sylvester Turner (and Lana Centonze, if anyone cares about her)? I have no idea. Someone previously cited Sec. 141.033 of the Elections Code in answer to the CD18 question. I don’t see how it applies to one and not the other. Anyone know what the deal is? I got nothing.