Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon
Independent Laura Thompson has won the special election runoff to temporarily fill the Texas House seat of former state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio.
Thompson, a freelance writer, will be the first independent to serve in the Legislature in more than half a century, though her time will be limited: She was running to represent House District 120 for just the next several months.
With all precincts reporting Tuesday night, Thompson defeated Democrat Lou Miller by 50 votes, 635 to 585 in unofficial returns. Thompson will serve through the rest of the year before McClendon’s permanent successor — to be elected in November — takes over ahead of the 2017 session.
The last person to serve in the Legislature without a major-party affiliation was state Rep. Howard Green of Fort Worth, according to Legislative Reference Library records. Green served from 1957 to 1966, and while he was a Democrat most of those years, he identified as an independent for the 1959 session.
[…]
A separate race is unfolding to permanently fill the McClendon seat starting in January. Democrat Barbara Gervin-Hawkins emerged victorious from a primary runoff in May and she is running unopposed in November.
As an independent candidate, Thompson also had the opportunity to appear on the November ballot along with Gervin-Hawkins. While Thompson petitioned for the spot, she did not qualify, according to a spokeswoman for the Texas secretary of state’s office, Alicia Pierce.
To say Thompson will “serve” in the Lege is a bit of an overbid, since no one is expecting a special session and there’s not likely to be much committee action – assuming she gets appointed to some committees – before January. For comparison’s sake, the more meaningful HD139 special election runoff, which was meaningful because the winner will also be the incumbent in 2017, drew 1836 votes, to this election’s 1210. There were over 3500 votes in the HD120 primary runoff, which determined who will be the Representative when the gavel hits, and over 10,000 votes in the March primary. Congratulations to everyone who voted in this race, you all deserve a ribbon for you above-and-beyond dedication to civic duty. The Current, which contradicts the Trib’s reporting about Thompson being on the ballot in November, not that it matters, has more.