The Hill lists its Top 10 dark-horse Congressional races to keep an eye on for 2010. Two of them are in Texas.
1. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)
McCaul was technically a lower-tier Democratic target in 2008, but that was really only because his opponent, former TV judge Larry Joe Doherty (D), was raising money like gangbusters. Doherty really didn’t have the right profile, and he wound up losing by a pedestrian 11 points — the exact margin of the presidential tally in the district. Now, Democrats have another big-money candidate, with businessman Jack McDonald raising $300,000 in the first quarter. We’ll see if he has the right profile, but the fact that he is vice chairman of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce suggests he might. The party has already put McCaul near the top of its target list.
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4. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas)
Democrats tried to mount a late charge in 2006 against National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), and they could do it again in 2010 against current NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) only took this suburban Dallas district 53-46 in the 2008 presidential race, and the heavily Hispanic areas have grown at a faster pace than the white areas. Sessions’s district is actually probably more fertile ground than McCaul’s, but Democrats might not have as good a candidate. Attorney Grier Raggio (D) has an exploratory committee, but it’s not clear who else might emerge.
You know how I feel about Sessions’ CD32. Now that Dallas County is solid blue, there’s no reason at all to leave him untargeted. The DCCC is already inclined to help out. The rest is up to the locals. McDonald’s fundraising success will keep the CD10 race on the front burner. Now we need someone to copy that formula in CD32. Thanks to BOR for the link.
TX-10, Dorherty really didn’t have the right profile the story says… Does that mean Jack McDonald does? he is a wall street lawyer who left new york right before the crash. Most of the money he is raising is coming from people who have received large chunks of bail out money. TX – 10 is a solidly Republican district and was drawn they way by Tom Delay. In addition, McCaul has never lost. He was not suppose to win the initial primary – it was drawn for a Harris County Republican but he won and he has won ever since. TX-10 will stay with McCaul until he decides to give it up – I believe that is why there is all this talk – to push him to Texas AG which he has said he has not interest in. Oh – and I am sure the Democrats in Washington DC are spinning a good story to Jack since their consultant friends will make a lot of money if he jumps in and spends his own money – that is the way it works.
I am running for Congress in the 13th District of Texas against Mac Thornberry. Put that on your radar.