Rep. John Culberson
One of the interesting things to come out of the early days of the Dear Leader regime is the number of candidates for office in 2018 who have already made themselves known. We all know that CD07 is on the national radar as a target for next year. What you may not know is that there are (at least) three people vying to be the candidate who opposes Rep. John Culberson. The first you know, and that’s James Cargas, who has run against Culberson in each of the last three years. The second candidate is former HCDE Trustee Debra Kerner, who announced her intention to run in January. I don’t know if she has had a formal campaign kickoff yet – for that matter, I don’t know if Cargas has had one – but there is a meet and greet for Kerner coming up tomorrow, if you want to acquaint yourself with her.
Candidate #3 joined the fold last week, and in his case it was via a formal announcement. His name is Joshua Butler, and while I don’t know much about him right now, his policy page has an impressive amount of stuff on it. You want to know what he thinks about a broad range of issues, you can find out. His bio page says he is originally from Alabama and now works as a development officer for a research institute in the Medical Center. This is going to be an interesting race.
On a tangential note, we also have a candidate for HD134, where I daresay a lot of the CD07 campaign activity will also take place. Her name is Angie Hayes, and her campaign website is here; you may have noticed the mention of her and her candidacy in that story about millennials running for office. Hayes is a grad student at UTHSC in Biomedical Informatics in Public Health, a community activist and organizer, and the founder of Clinic Access Support Network, which provides logistical support to women seeking reproductive healthcare. She is having a campaign kickoff happy hour on April 10 if you want to learn more about her.
UPDATE: As noted in the comments and on the Facebook page, there are four candidates for CD07 at this time. My apologies to Jason Westin for missing him. You can meet all four candidates – who knows, by then there may be a fifth – at this town hall on May 9.
I am looking forward to an actual competitive campaign in my district 7 in 2018.
I wonder if Culberson will actually participate in any debates with the Democratic nominee.
There’s another D running in CD7; Dr. Jason Westin. Has a busy twitter account @DrWestinforTX07
There are also 2 new dems running in HD133 as well, no formal announcements from them yet but we are ready to get rid of Murphy
Murphy in HD 133 is going to be a heavy lift to get rid of as well.
At Chris Brown’s event last night a Laura Moser, daughter of a former Democratic nominee for appeals court, said she expects to run in the Democratic Primary for CD7.
At Chris Brown’s event last night a Laura Moser, daughter of a 2008 Democratic nominee for appeals court, said she expects to run in the Democratic Primary for CD7.
The picture is titled “Rep. John Cumberson”. Intentional, or honest slip?
Ross – Totally a slip of the keyboard. Thanks for the catch, it’s fixed now.
Cargas has had already held not 1 but 2 Town Halls!! He impressed me with how conscientious he is in answering everybody’s questions by staying after the event and meeting everyone. Why are you not reporting on this? He has been fighting this race since 2012 and his persistence, resilience and “Not give up” attitude have impressed me! This is a true activist; i.e., he fought for principles and issues when CD7 was not a trendy discussion by any means, when there was no DCCC $$$$ on the table… This is who I respect: a non-opportunist! Besides his tremendous public service experience at the federal and local levels. Cargas made CD7 to SwingLeft! You may not want to recognize this, but The Washington Post already has. He has extensive policies on issues on his website, presented in a user-friendly way through videos. This is not reported in your blog either. The national scene knows who is in it because they believe in real change and have been walking the talk versus who is in it for the money!
Stop pimping Cargas, liz.
He’s a three-time loser (twice in presidential cycles) who does not live in CD7 and supports — oops, his exact words are “I do not oppose” — fracking.
If Cargas insists on continuing to run for an office he will never win, he needs to run against Ted Poe, where he lives.