By J.R. Labbe
jrlabbe@ star-telegram.com
For North Texas political junkies, the 2012 congressional elections could be the ultimate high.
Candidates started spewing forth Wednesday like beer at a frat party after judges from a federal court in San Antonio released interim maps for the U.S. House.
State Rep. Marc Veasey, a popular protégé of former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, quickly announced his intentions for run for District 33, one of four new congressional seats in Texas. District 33 runs from southeast to north Fort Worth and includes Forest Hill and central and east Arlington. The University of Texas at Arlington and Arlington's entertainment complex are in the district as well as a large portion of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision project.
Fort Worth City Council member Kathleen Hicks was hard on Veasey's heels with an announcement that she intends to file for District 33 as well.
"There is no area of Fort Worth that I have not worked tirelessly to improve," Hicks said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "I want to bring that expertise to Congress: working to bring positive change to our community, creating jobs and a positive future for our children."
Other names were bubbling up in the cauldron of possibilities at week's end. Some disappeared as quickly as they surfaced.
Fort Worth Councilman Sal Espino posted a comment on his Facebook page Wednesday afternoon that he "had been urged to look at a candidacy for that seat. I am interested in such seat and am giving it serious consideration. We will visit with family, friends, advisers, and supporters."
Not sure which one of those categories Hicks fits into, but buzz around town on Friday was that the two council reps had a sit-down. Might Hicks have been counseling her council colleague that it would be a tough seat for Espino to win, even with the 40 percent concentration of Hispanics in the district?
As we have heard repeatedly throughout the redistricting discussions at the Fort Worth school board and City Council, local Hispanics do not exercise their right to vote in great numbers.
African-Americans do, which could be why the Rev. Kyev Tatum also is eyeing a run.
He doesn't have a prayer against Veasey or Hicks, but even being mentioned in the same breath gives the community activist legitimacy beyond the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"We need someone in that district who is concerned about the issues of the neighborhood," Tatum told the
Star-Telegram's PoliTex reporters Friday.
Note to Tatum: Neighborhood issues are the real estate of the City Council. Perhaps a run for one of those seats would be a better place to launch into the world of elected representation.
It's conceivable that additional names of Tarrant Democrats will come and go between the time the last word is typed for this column and the moment it posts online. A congressional seat with no incumbent is as rare as a diamond on the beach. Lots of folks are going to grab for it.
On the Republican side of the ledger, whatever will Roger Williams do? The Weatherford auto dealer and former Texas secretary of state wants to be elected to something in the worst way, and that's the way he's going about seeking office.
He started his quest in late 2008 when he formed an exploratory committee to consider a 2012 run for the U.S. Senate to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison. Hutchison didn't vacate the premises as quickly as anticipated, and by the time she finally announced she wouldn't seek re-election -- after losing the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary to Gov. Rick Perry -- the Republican dance card was pretty crowded. Among the two-steppers: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, with a war chest and statewide name ID that will be tough to beat.
Williams thought he had found greener pastures in District 33, but just his luck the federal court mucked around with the lines and now he's in a district with U.S. Rep. Kay Granger.
Anyone think he'll run against the woman who named him chairman of the USS Fort Worth Commissioning Committee? Me, either. Of course, Williams could still run in 33. You don't have to live in a congressional district to run for it. But 33 is loaded up with folks much more likely to hew Democrat than Republican.
No way the GOP will let a new congressional seat go without a candidate, but whoever carries the party standard better be able to make his peace with being a sacrificial lamb.
Jill "J.R." Labbe is editorial director of the Star-Telegram.817-390-7599Twitter: @jrlabbe55
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