The Chron is already raising the question.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
Under state law, the Harris County Democratic Party’s executive committee will have until Aug. 26 to nominate a candidate to run in the Nov. 5 general election.
If the committee does not choose a candidate in time, then the Texas Democratic Party would have two days, or until Aug. 28, to make the choice.
Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party, said state party rules advise that, if possible, there should be at least 10 days from the creation of the vacancy before a meeting is called.
County executive committees will sometimes create an informal filing period, or they may create a survey for candidates to fill out, or they may notice the meeting and ask the candidates to show up in person and make their pitch in front of the committee, Dunn said.
The relevant law is here. It’s the same as it was when then-Commissioner El Franco Lee died in 2016, with the Democratic precinct chairs in Precinct 1 – a group that includes me – picking a new nominee for the office, as he had been up for election that year. Given that, I expect it will be more or less the same this time around, with the precinct chairs of CD18 – again, a group that includes me – convening sometime between now and August 26 to name a nominee for November.
I don’t care to speculate beyond that at this time. I’m sure there are plenty of people who will be interested in being that nominee, and I’m equally sure it won’t be long before the first announcement of such interest appears in my mailbox. I’ll let you know when that happens and as we proceed.
As the story notes, there should also be a special election to fill out the remainder of Rep. Jackson Lee’s term. Greg Abbott has the discretion to call that election and set the date for it. I don’t know when that might be – it could be in September, it could be on Election Day. Assuming we have a nominee for November, that person ought to be the clear frontrunner, but strange things can happen. The Trib has more.
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