Moe specifically, they’re looking at the Bill White campaign for a competitive race here.
Democrats see political opportunity in Texas thanks to a departing Republican senator, a special election to replace her and Houston’s mayor bidding for her seat.
Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Tuesday Democrats could be on the road to a competitive Senate race in Texas.
“I’m not going to overstate it. Texas is a hard place, except that what we’re talking about here is a special election with a much different universe of voters coming out and someone like (Houston Mayor) Bill White” running, Menendez said.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is expected to resign from the Senate as early as this year to focus on her challenge of incumbent Gov. Rick Perry to be the GOP nominee for governor.
Menendez said White is well positioned because he is from Houston — which is the state’s largest city — and is a Texas Democrat who “represents the values and positions that would appeal to a broad cross-section” of voters.
A special election to replace Hutchison would draw a “special universe of voters,” also giving Democrats a chance, Menendez said. Special elections do not include party primaries.
“In a special election … the turnout can create the opportunity for someone like Bill White to succeed,” he said.
The usual caveats apply. I’ll believe KBH is resigning when I actually see her do it. There may be a “special universe of voters” in this election, whenever it is, but that doesn’t mean it would be any less Republican. More to the point, the runoff is unlikely to be any less Republican than a regular statewide election, and that’s where the challenge really lies. Be that as it may, it is easy to see why the national folks are excited about Bill White’s candidacy. Wednesday was the campaign finance reporting deadline for the third quarter, so we’ll soon have another idea of how strong his campaign has been
As for John Sharp, who was also mentioned in this article? I’ll let KT handle that one.