The special election in HD13 to succeed Sen. Lois Kolkhorst is next Tuesday. Early voting ends today, and there’s not much news out there to find. HD13 is a rural district with only small-paper coverage – one of those papers, the Brenham Banner Press, is subscription only – and there doesn’t appear to be much money or any feuds like the Texans for Lawsuit Reform kerfuffle in SD26 to get the larger outfits to notice this race. I did find some news while googling around, so here you go.
From the Navasota Examiner, a report from a candidate forum.
Rep. Lois Kolkhorst
While Grimes County reported an all-time low of 20 total votes for the first day of early voting, Grimes County Republican Party Chairman Joe Fauth told forum attendees residents were probably waiting to hear from District 13 State Representative candidates before casting ballots.
Governor Rick Perry ordered a special election to be held on Tuesday, Jan. 13, in Texas House of Representatives District 13 for the purpose of electing a representative to fill the vacancy in the seat previously held by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst. Monday night, Republican candidates – petroleum and mining geologist Becky Berger of Schulenburg, Austin County Judge Carolyn Cerny Bilski of Sealy and Attorney Leighton Schubert of Caldwell – faced off at the American Legion Hall Anderson, as Grimes County Republican Party hosted a forum. Fauth said that Democratic candidate and retiree Cecil R. Webster Sr. of Carmine was not invited to participate.
The bulk of questions centered around how candidates planned to protect the county against the threats of a proposed high-speed rail project, proposed transmission lines and the proposed State Highway 249 toll road.
[…]
When asked what candidates would do to secure funding from Proposition 1 funds for Grimes County infrastructure, Bilski said that since legislative sessions starts on Election Day, she promised constituents would have an active voice.
“Prop. 1 has a lot of pieces to it, so for me to say I’m going to author a bill today, I have to look at the legislation that’s already been pre-filed and work towards whatever deadlines we might still have,” Bilski said.
Berger said she would “fight any diversion of funds,” as the legislature has not spent appropriated money properly.
“If I have to filibuster, I will do it. I will be one of those people that fights for your best interest,” Berger said. “I’m going to go up there and fight like it’s mine to make sure that you get to keep what’s yours, and that our roads are taken care of in this area.”
Schubert said that there is no doubt that Texas is growing, as the population is expected to increase by 82 percent by 2060.
“Vital infrastructure is necessary to our growth and continued economic development. We have to make sure our funding is prioritized,” Schubert said.
The attorney added that while TxDOT has stated that $5 billion is needed annually to maintain roads, ensuring gas tax money is utilized for infrastructure would provide $700 million for roads annually.
“That’s just one solution – designated funds need to go where they are. Secondly, we have to maintain our fiscal conservatism and make sure that we are prioritizing our spending, because there’s never enough to go around. But infrastructure does need to be at the very top of our list,” Schubert said.
When asked what the most pressing issue for the district is, Berger said protecting property rights, as well as working on water, infrastructure and academic needs.
“It’s not just happening in Grimes County; it’s happening in every county,” Berger said. “And we now know that the Supreme Court will hold up a better use clause, so that someone can take your property by eminent domain – even if it’s a company, instead of a public entity. We need to fight that in Texas.”
Schubert said his top priority would be to provide a strong voice for rural Texas and “protect our way of life,” as well as ensure that rural healthcare is funded.
“We need to recruit good doctors to come back to rural areas to serve our population. We need to protect our private property rights and second amendment rights, but the main goal is to keep rural Texas strong,” Schubert said.
Bilski said quality of life would be her main objective for the district.
“Quality of life takes in water, your road infrastructure and property rights, and those are all going to be filed under different bills and amendments,” Bilski said. “Toll roads are something you’re going to have to deal with, and I’ll be there to help protect your quality of life.”
Basically, it was about the level of discourse you’d expect at a GOP-only candidate forum. At least these three say they support spending some money on infrastructure, which in our perverse current environment counts are forward thinking. Bilski, the Austin County Judge, is the Parent PAC candidate for those of you keeping score at home. Education issues apparently didn’t come up in that forum – make your own joke here – so we have that and this to help us sort things out.
Did I mention fundraising? The Victoria Advocate takes a look at the finance reports.
The candidates in a special election for the Texas House District 13 seat are working with little money and time as Election Day looms.
The four candidates collectively have raised about $90,000 so far during their candidacies to succeed Lois Kolkhorst, who resigned from the seat after 14 years to become a state senator. Republican contender Leighton Schubert, an attorney from Caldwell, is leading the group, having raised $47,450.
Following are Republican Carolyn Cerny Bilski, Austin County judge, with $24,655.63 raised; Democrat Cecil Webster Sr., a Carmine retiree of the U.S. Army, with $19,083.32; and Republican Becky Berger, a geologist of Schulenburg, with $200, according to documents campaigns submitted to the Texas Ethics Commission. Most candidates said the amount of time to campaign affected how much they were able to raise. All have used some of their own money to campaign.
Schubert’s report is here, and it’s legit. My initial assumption was that he had a sugar daddy or two, but while he does have several four-figure donors, he has a decent array of individual givers – no PAC money that I could see – and the vast majority of it was local. Good for him. I’d have thought Berger might draw some wingnut establishment money, but apparently not.
And that’s all I can find. I get the impression that turnout will be low even by oddly-timed special election standards, but we’ll see. Bilski has all the appearance of a frontrunner, but whether she can get a first-round majority, and who might have a shot at a runoff, are anyone’s guess. If you live in HD13, I’d love to hear your observations about this race.