ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY
Texas Democrats are notorious for pronouncing their return to power and then getting drummed at the ballot box. But with President Trump’s high disapproval ratings in an off-year election, this may be their best chance to start clawing back from the brink.
Signs of Hope?
There are signs that the Democrats may not be all bluster this year. James Talarico is riding high and raising record amounts of money in his bid to unseat John Cornyn. Cornyn looks vulnerable to Ken Paxton and the wild card of who Trump will endorse in the primary is still out there somewhere.
A new and young state chair Kendall Scudder has ushered in hopes of a young progressive party that will appeal to younger voters. There are also signs that Republican support among Latinos is not as solid as originally thought.
Democrats Field First State Wide Slate since 1994
For the first time since 1994 every state-wide and Texas House and Senate race will be contested by Democrats. This includes San Angelo’s HD 72 which has not seen a Democrat run since Rob Junell retired in 2002. Shiloh Salazar has filed to challenge incumbent Drew Darby.
Perhaps the greatest surprise is the fact that two candidates filed to run in the Democratic Primary for U.S. Congress TX-11: Pedro (“Pete”) Ruiz of Midland and Claire Reynolds of Austin.
A contested Democratic primary scheduled in what, until lately, was one of the most Republican districts in the country tells us something out of the ordinary may be happening.
A portion of Travis County was recently added to TX-11 in the most recent redistricting. While still a heavily Republican district, it remains to be seen what impact adding large numbers of Democratic voters from Travis County will have on TX-11.
Local Races Spark Interest
Sadly, San Angelo is notorious for having no contested elections.
Even in the Republican primary there is rarely a challenger, unless there is an open seat. That is the case for County Court at Law No. 1 where there are three candidates vying for the Republican nomination: Jana Johnson, Leland Lacy and Jessica Skinner. The nominee will run uncontested in the general election to replace Judge Ben Nolen who is not seeking reelection.
With County Commissioner Sammy Farmer deciding at the last minute not to run again, Todd Smith and Chad Decker seek election in the Republican Primary. No Democratic candidate filed to run for this seat.
Incumbent County Clerk Christina Ubando faces Lauren Barron in the Republican Primary.
Barron is Chief Deputy of the County Clerk’s office. Ubando has served as County Clerk since being appointed by the Commissioners Court in 2021. This is highly unusual in San Angelo politics. It is more typical for the Chief Deputy to wait until the incumbent steps down before running to take their place.
The sole Democratic candidate to file was Walter Bryant for Justice of the Peace Precinct 1. He will be challenging incumbent Justice of the Peace Susan Werner in November.
