In addition to all of the inauguration activities today, the filing deadline for the 2010 Democratic and Republican primaries is today at 6 PM. You can see Democratic candidates on the Harris County ballot, including statewides, here, and Republican candidates here.
Democrats still have a bunch of holes to fill. No one is running for Comptroller yet. (Carole? Nick? Anyone?) CDs 07 and 10 are uncontested. Freshman State Sen. Joan Huffman in SD17 appears to be getting a pass, as I figured she would. So far, the only Republican-held State Rep seats that have Democrats running are HDs 127, where Joe Montemayor will take a second shot at this now-open office, and 138, where Kendra Yarbrough Camarena will take on Rep. Dwayne Bohac in one of maybe two interesting local district races; the other will be HD133, where Jim Murphy challenges Rep. Kristi Thibaut in the rubber match. No Democrat has filed as yet in HD144, which would be a major fail and might render Democratic chances of retaking the House null. At least we have the three contested statewide primaries, which will help generate interest early on.
On the GOP side, their slate is about as full as it ought to be. They’re running against a number of Democratic incumbents that they have no real chance of beating, but that’s okay. The one place they might take a shot at but so far aren’t is HD137. They do have by my count about a dozen sitting judges who are not running for re-election, plus Don Jackson’s open bench, and of course a contested and contentious race for County Party Chair to deal with.
Anyway. Deadline Day is usually when the big surprises get sprung, if there are to be any. What races are you keeping an eye on? The Chron and the Trib have more.