In deep East Texas, Steve Stockman — ousted in 1996 after a single controversial House term marked by rabid anti-federal rhetoric, including sympathy for the Oklahoma City bombers — won a stunning comeback. This time, he ducked public attention and focused tightly on tea partiers and evangelical Christians.
And in West Texas, state Rep. Pete Gallego quashed a comeback bid by ex-congressman Ciro Rodriguez, winning a Democratic runoff for the right to face tea party freshman Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco.
“Extremist priorities are wrong for our families,” Gallego said. “This race is about electing a congressman who will stand up for the middle class.”
Canseco, a San Antonio Republican who ousted Rodriguez in the 2010 tea party surge, is a top target for Democrats nationwide.
Strategists in both parties generally viewed Gallego as the stronger challenger. Bill Clinton backed Rodriguez. But Gallego outspent his rival 3-1 — though he was down to $7,000 at the end, compared with the incumbent’s $1 million war chest.
“This race has turned into a nightmare for Democrats,” said Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman at the National Republican Congressional Committee, chaired by Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, arguing that the primary left the winner “battered and bruised.”
Winners of a several other U.S. House runoffs face near-certain victory in November, in districts dominated by one party or the other.
“For a guy that’d never run for office before, it’s pretty humbling,” said Weatherford businessman Roger Williams, an early casualty of the GOP Senate scramble. Williams scooped up a consolation prize by fending off Army veteran Wes Riddle in a district that runs from Fort Worth to Austin.
“It gives us a great platform in the Congress to get our pro-business message out.”
Along the Gulf Coast near Houston in the district where Rep. Ron Paul is retiring after his presidential bid, state Rep. Randy Weber of Pearland won the GOP nod with Paul’s backing. He’s favored to beat former Rep. Nick Lampson of Beaumont, though Weber called him a “formidable” opponent.
“This is a hard seat, but if any Democrat can win, it’s Congressman Lampson,” said Amber Moon, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Weber, a tea party supporter, said he won’t be a “carbon copy” of Paul, though “when you talk about rock-solid conservative with a track record, we’re a lot alike.”
Along the coast from Corpus Christi to Mexico, Brownsville lawyer Filemon Vela beat a longtime aide to former Rep. Solomon Ortiz to win a new Democrat-dominated seat.
The Gallego-Canseco battle will be one of the most closely watched in the country this fall. The vast San Antonio-to-El Paso district is so closely divided that in 2008, 51 percent of voters backed President Barack Obama.
Democrats paint Canseco, a former bank president, as too wealthy and conservative for a district where two-thirds of voting-age residents are Hispanic and many are poor. Moon cited his opposition to a payroll tax cut, support for Medicare rollbacks, and silence on the DREAM Act, which would let young illegal immigrants avoid deportation.
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