Steve Stockman’s last-minute switch to the Senate race left a void in CD36 on the Republican side that is being filled by a dozen Stockman wannabes.
The Republican primary ballot for the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman was set Monday evening — a week later than expected — with five additional candidates signing up on the final day of filing for the Houston-area congressional seat.
Stockman, R-Friendswood, abruptly withdrew his re-election bid Dec. 9 to launch a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The timing of Stockman’s switch — which occurred minutes before the filing deadline — prompted the Republican Party of Texas to extend the deadline for the Congressional District 36 race, though under conditions that left some interested candidates unable to enter the race.
Ben Streusand and John Manlove, both of Houston, Robin Riley and Jim Engstrand, both of Seabrook, and Pat Kasprzak of Crosby filed for the seat on Monday. Riley is a former Seabrook mayor. One other Republican, Brian Babin, a dentist and former mayor of Woodville, also took advantage of the deadline extension, filing on Friday. They joined six Republicans who had filed for the seat before the original deadline: Nassau Bay City Councilman John Amdur; Doug Centilli, a longtime chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands; former Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald; Lumberton lawyer Charles “Chuck” Meyer; former Seabrook City Councilman Kim Morrell; and insurance agent Dave Norman.
Democrat Michael “MKC” Cole and Libertarians Robb Rourke and Rodney Veach are also running for the seat.
There are a couple of semi-familiar names in that list, with rich guy Streusand leading the pack. I’ll refer you to PDiddie for the gumshoe work. Expect several metric tons of Teh Crazy in this race, to be followed by a concentrated dose of it for the runoff. And that’s even without taking into consideration the race that actually features Steve Stockman, which in less than two weeks already features attack websites and disgusting photos – seriously, you need to click that last link, just not while you’re eating. I’m trying to picture what an analogous Democratic campaign to the CD36 clown car would look like, but my imagination is failing. We have our version of crazy and obnoxious, but it’s minor league next to these guys. Burka and BOR have more.