Here’s how we recommend Democrats vote in primary for open Fort Worth-area House seat
There’s not a lot that separates the two Democrats running to replace Rep. Jonathan Stickland in Texas House District 92 in northeast Tarrant County.
Both businessman Steve Riddell and lawyer Jeff Whitfield are focused on boosting education spending and expanding Medicaid to reduce overall health care costs. Both have had limited campaign experience. Neither has held elected office before.
With a nod to experience, we recommend primary voters choose Whitfield, 46, as the better option to hit the ground running as a legislator.
Whitfield has a more extensive resume of public service. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and a veteran, he also worked at The Hague, prosecuting war crimes committed in Bosnia.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHey, who is behind these endorsements?
Members of the Editorial Board, which serves as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s institutional voice, decide candidates and positions to recommend to voters. The members of the board are: Cynthia M. Allen, columnist; Steve Coffman, editor and president; Bud Kennedy, columnist; Ryan J. Rusak, opinion editor; and Nicole Russell, opinion writer.
Members of our Community Advisory Board may also participate in candidate interviews and offer their views, but they do not vote on which candidate to recommend.
Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.
How does the process work?
The Editorial Board interviews candidates, asking about positions on issues, experience and qualifications, and how they would approach holding the office for which they are running. Board members do additional research on candidates’ backgrounds and the issues at hand. After that, members discuss the candidates and generally aim to arrive at a consensus, though not necessarily unanimity. All members contribute observations and ideas, so the resulting editorials represent the board’s view, not a particular writer.
How do partisanship and ideology factor in?
We’re not tied to one party or the other, and our positions on issues range across the ideological spectrum. We tend to prefer candidates who align with our previously stated positions, but qualifications, temperament and experience are important, too.
But more to the point, he worked as an aide to state Sen. John Whitmire, managing legislation for the Houston veteran.
That’s a critical edge for a potential freshman in the Legislature. The process and variety of issues and demands on a legislator’s time can be daunting, and Whitfield would arrive in Austin with a sense of what it takes to get bills passed and have influence on issues.
Whitfield also brings a smart overall sense to the job. He frames his mission as helping the most vulnerable Texans on a host of issues, tying together school funding, health-care costs and even the failures of the state’s foster care system. In what could be a wide-open race, it could help him frame his candidacy in a way that resonates with voters.
His willingness to listen to both constituents and experts to formulate the best approach on issues such as taxes and health care is a sign of a potentially effective lawmaker.
Riddell, 49, deserves credit from Democratic voters for running a strong campaign in 2018, though he narrowly lost to Stickland. He offers smart, specific ideas on health care costs, such as hospital reforms, and an emphasis on the need for campaign finance reform to ensure legislators are focusing on their constituents, not their donors.
But before that 2018 race, his political and public service involvement was limited, a decided edge for Whitfield.
In a joint interview, the pair even struggled to identify where they differed, focusing more on personal or stylistic issues, including who had closer ties to the district. (Whitfield grew up in the area but recently moved back, while Riddell lives in Euless and has been in the area for about a decade.)
Both are confident they’d be part of a Democratic majority in the House. But for Democrats to get there, they need the right candidate to win one of the districts that’s seen as an important toss-up in the overall fight for control.
Given his experience, we believe that’s Whitfield.
Edited on Feb. 11 to reflect that Steve Riddell currently lives in Euless, not Bedford.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 10:51 AM.