Hubener, Stallings, and Thibault

Katy Hubener, who gave State Rep. Ray Allen a close shave in 2004, will run again for HD106, which is now an open seat with Allen joining the retirement brigade.

Hubener, made her first try for an elected office in 2004 and garnered 47.4 percent of the vote to Allen’s 52.6 percent in the race to represent State District 106, which includes most of the part of Grand Prairie in Dallas County, except for a northeast portion, and southern parts of Irving.

“Grand Prairie residents care about schools, property tax relief and insurance reform,” said Hubener, 35, a Grand Prairie real estate agent. “On school finance reform, the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility to the courts.”

Allen, a 54-year-old businessman who was the first Republican to represent Grand Prairie, said he is not seeking an eighth term because he wants to spend more time with his family and perhaps find a new business venture.

Allen said he does not know who among Republicans will run for the seat.

“There’s a whole bunch of people, but I’m not trying to anoint a successor,” he said. “I’ll be neutral in the primary.”

Hubener overperformed in HD106 last year – the average split in contested races was 55.9% GOP to 46.1% Dem – so she ought to be in a decent position to win this time around. Allen did have some ethical issues, so it’s also possible that some fresh blood on the GOP side will have a better chance at retaining that seat. Either way, this will be a race to watch.

Meanwhile Matt Glazer reports that someone other than he will take on Rep. Frank Corte in HD122.

Larry Stallings announced tonight that he will be challenging Frank Corte in House District 122. The announcement came before Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee outlined their 50 state strategy at house parties across the country.

Stallings says he was inspired by Howard Dean and the idea that no race should go unchallenged. Not even an out of touch legislator who stalls and blocks education reform.

Corte has basically gone unchallenged since 1992 and has not faced a Democratic challenger since being first elected. There are countless reasons why this guy should be defeated, and Stallings says he is up for the challenge.

Stallings was in the military for 30 years and is currently a director at University Medical Center in north San Antonio. His background in the health care industry and military alone will make this an interesting race to watch.

As I’ve discussed before, this is a very red district, so as much as anything the goal there will be outreach and maybe a little turnout boost for other races, such as CD21. The good news is that when you’re a longshot, you can take some chances and try new things. I hope that whoever runs Larry Stallings’ campaign has a good creative streak in him or her.

Whenever an announcement like Stallings’ is made, there will be some pushback from people who think running everywhere is a bad idea. Sure enough, they pop up in the comments on this BOR post. I think you all know where I stand on this, so I’ll just let Karl-T respond to the naysayers, as he is speaking for me here.

Finally, I had the chance to hear HD133 candidate Kristi Thibault speak at the Houston Democratic Forum meeting last night. She’s just completed her paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission, so even though she doesn’t have a website up yet you can start sending her donations. The thing she said that stuck with me is how excited she is to be running for that seat. I feel a little bit about what she’s talking about, and I think there’s getting to be a lot of that going around in Dem circles. Get to know your candidates, folks, this is going to be a fun year.

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