Olivo gets primaried again

Hal reports on the announcement that Fort Bend activist Ron E. Reynolds will challenge State Rep. Dora Olivo for the Democratic nomination for HD27 next year.

District 27 has been represented by state Rep. Dora Olivo (D – Rosenberg) for the past 6 legislative terms. District 27 includes most of southern Fort Bend County including Rosenberg and Missouri City, but not Sugar Land. It is widely viewed as a safe Democratic district as in 2006 she trounced her Republican opponent, Fort Bend ISD Trustee Ken Bryant by a whopping 61% to 39%.

While there has been no public statement from Olivo as to whether she will run for re-election, it is widely held that there is no question that she will.

Her primary opponent in 2006 was Stephen Brown, a Missouri City health care lobbyist. Brown lost to Olivo by nearly exactly the same percentages (60% to 40%) as Bryant did in November. Brown was a relative unknown whose campaign did not garner the endorsements of Olivo’s fellow state representatives, state reps for whom Brown had worked in various capacities, as it would prove to be, shall we say, awkward. Those who knew him couldn’t endorse him.

That cannot be said of Ron Reynolds. Reynolds is the current president of the Missouri City & Vicinity NAACP, a local community leader, and is widely viewed by those who know him as a progressive Democrat and is well-known in the area.

A primary contest between these two well-known progressive Democrats will play a little differently than in 2006, I think.

What I recall from the ’06 primary is that there were questions about whether Brown was being backed by Tom Craddick. I know that Brown himself denied these rumors, and offhand I don’t recall any evidence coming out to demonstrate that he had financial backing from Team Craddick, but the questions were there anyway.

There are a lot of undercurrents to this year’s contest, so let me commend you to read Hal’s post, as well as this followup, for more on the story.

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