After dangling the idea of running as a write-in candidate against U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, Houston restaurateur and prominent Barack Obama supporter Marcus Davis said today that such a candidacy would distract too much from the Obama effort.
“The price is too heavy to pay,” he said, about 80 minutes before the deadline for filing a candidate application with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.
However, Davis also said that after the Nov. 4 election, he and other Jackson Lee constituents will make strong demands of her to improve her representation of the 18th Congressional District.
And he will help make contingency plans for a candidate to run against her in the 2010 Democratic primary, Davis said.
I heard about this possibility a long time ago, but never really gave it much thought, mostly because there were too many other races to worry about. For what it’s worth, I don’t have any particular complaints about Rep. Jackson Lee, who is my representative in Congress. She votes the way I want her to vote, and that’s really all you can ask. I have noticed that she’s been more visible at campaign events and the like than I recall her being in the past, and she’s definitely been a strong supporter of Barack Obama at those events. I’ve said before that I think this sentiment will largely fade in the event of an Obama victory, and I still believe that. But if I’m wrong, the name that’ I’ve heard being floated as a 2010 challenger to her is City Council Member Jarvis Johnson from District B.
I don’t think a write-in challenge to Jackson Lee was ever going to be more than a distraction. But we don’t really need any distractions this year, so I’m glad to hear that it won’t happen.
There must be some good democrat that can stand up against this fool! I live in her district but she doesn’t represent me. PLEASE someone step up and take this woman away from the microphone.
You’re just now responding to this post? A year later? People love Sheila. Not because she does anything really. They just love her. She sends letters, shows up at things, smiles a lot. What it comes down to. In a way she’s all many have left of Barbara Jordan. Although of course Sheila Jackson Lee is not Barbara Jordan and they know it. I guess in a way Sheila’s sort of like that old teddy bear you keep. Makes you feel better somehow. They’re content with her. And it’s their choice. Not everyone else’s.