Straus plays defense
In addition to his own race for reelection to the House, Straus must fend off challenges to his committee chairs. Eleven chairs face primary opponents, including several who head top-tier committees (Appropriations, Ways & Means, and State Affairs). Conventional wisdom holds that Eissler, Pitts, Hamilton, Hopson, and Truitt have tough races, and there is always the unexpected (see Hubert Vo vs. Talmadge Heflin, 2003). This is a lot of ground for Straus to defend. Remember what happened when Craddick lost five seats in 2006. He was fatally wounded. Straus can’t afford for that to happen. He needs to get his team reelected. The Straus chairs who have primary opposition:
Bill Callegari (Government Efficiency & Reform)
Byron Cook (State Affairs)
John Davis (Economic & Small Business Development)
Rob Eissler (Public Education)
Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton (Licensing & Administrative Procedures)
Harvey Hildebran (Ways & Means)
Chuck Hopson (General Investigating & Ethics)
Sid Miller (Homeland Security & Public Safety)
Jim Pitts (Appropriations)
Allan Ritter (Natural Resources)
Vicki Truitt (Pensions, Investments, & Financial Services)
817 says:
he won’t lose more than 3
Reply »
Patriotone says:
He won’t lose more than 2.
Reply »
Conservative Republican says:
And the ones he does lose won’t be because of Straus, but rather will be due to geography or the particular member’s problems with constituents. Craddick was never in as good of a position with members as Straus currently enjoys.
Reply »
Just Another Joe says:
Callegarie, Hilderbran, Davis and Cook have weak opponents. Those 4 will be back for sure. Next tier is Miller, Ritter and Truitt. Don’t expect either of those 3 to lose but 1 of them could get nipped in the bud.
Pitts, Hopson, Eissler and Hamilton are the battles and at least 2 should go down. 817′s prediction that 3 fall is probably spot on.
Reply »
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 10:02 am
I’ll take the under.
Reply »
jeff Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Miller will get beat.
Reply »
Alan says:
RobEissler.org is a reminder that public officials need to buy every possible iteration of their domain name.
Reply »
SEATAC says:
What I want to know is whether any of these endangered Straus chairs are going to lose because of local/personal factors, or because they are being attacked from the right.
Reply »
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 10:01 am
Truitt, Eissler, and Pitts are being attacked from the right. So is Sid Miller, but his opponents are not strong. TLR is after Hamilton. Hopson is in a situation similar to Wayne Christian’s: He’s from a smaller county and the biggest county in the district has a strong candidate. Ritter’s opponent is a secessionist. The key races are Pitts/Eissler/Truitt.
Reply »
BlueCat Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
What do you make of these races? I can’t imagine Pitts really being at risk.
Reply »
BlueCat Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
What do you make of these races? I can’t imagine Pitts really being at risk. Even a runoff wouldnt be a huge issue.
Reply »
jeff Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Sheffield got 44% last election. Don’t underestimate him
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
remember the democrat’s outstanding freshman?
He spent last night in jail http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news%2Fpolitics&id=8634787
I’m so proud a democrat is my rep….
Reply »
Harvey Soapstone Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:41 am
Is he in the same jail as Tom DeLay or Abramoff?
Reply »
Julie Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 11:42 am
Shame on that state rep. His arrest still pales in comparison to the conviction of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on money laundering charges
Got to give credit to DeLay for one thing. He sure knew how to throw a party.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
at least Rep Reynolds was arrested on a real charge not a phoney made up charge by Ronnie Earle.
Reply »
Julie Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
DeLay was convicted by a jury of his peers, including Republicans.
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:52 am
“DeLay was convicted by a jury of his peers, including Republicans.”
@ Julie the republican have you ever been to Travis cty?
WUSRPH Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Halderman, Erlichman, Dean, Colson etc., etc., etc…..Plus those under RR and GWB…including the ones GWB pardoned on his way out of office and just before their trials would take place…
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
You have the freedom to move to current Rep. Charlie Howard’s district.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:53 am
“You have the freedom to move to current Rep. Charlie Howard’s district.”
I believe that’s called “white flight.”
Why not stay and defend my homestead from attack by felons representing me?
Reply »
Anonymous says:
I don’t think any of those incumbents will lose. If they do it is a matter of them not working hard. Not their record. The only race that might be a tossup right now is Hopson. That is a matter of him being a former Democrat and this is a Republican Primary with a possible low turnout. I think Republican Primary voters are ready for level headed candidates that govern conservatively. Having just come out of the most conservative legislative session in state history I think those incumbents will be fine.
Reply »
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:53 am
The threat to Hopson is (1) he has an able opponent; and (2) Nacogdoches, the biggest county in the district, wants the seat.
Reply »
Anonymous says:
Why does the right hate Straus?
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 11:18 am
The right does not hate Straus. Most of the polling I have seen they don’t even know who he is. Some of the power brokers in Austin (MQS etc) do not like him because he is not one of them. He let’s Members vote their district and they don’t like that. They want a Speaker that will take orders from them.
The people who hate Straus are very small in number but they are good at inflating their voices.
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
Spot on, Anonymous at 11:18am
Reply »
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Pitts doesn’t live in his district, he has three opponents, one of whom is a tea party activist, and incumbents don’t fare well in runoffs. If it were me, I’d be worried.
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
The reason is intolerance. Intolerance in religion and intolerance in politics. The far right, led by Perry, wants to control Texas politics. Straus won’t kowtow to them.
Reply »
anita Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
God bless Straus. He deserves a better political party then the one he belongs to.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:55 am
then why doesn’t Straus move to the dems where’s he’d be more at home?
Anonymous Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Like this guy? All the conservatives are supporting him. I wonder about those other tough opponents MQS has recruited.
http://texasconservativepolitics.blogspot.com/
Reply »
Anonymous says:
Tim Dunn wants a Christian Speaker.
Reply »
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
That’s another, more disgusting, way of saying what I wrote.
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Anti-Semitism is disgusting but apparently tolerated that wing of the party.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:56 am
exactly Christians hate jews and Israel.
Anonymous says:
How many more anti-Straus candidates will our governor endorse?
Reply »
Anonymous says:
“I think Republican Primary voters are ready for level headed candidates that govern conservatively.”
Bwahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!
Ya gotta be kiddin’ me. Thanks for the laughs, though.
Reply »
Julie says:
If the far right takes more seats in the Legislature, they’ll make further shortsighted cuts in funding for education, highways, parks, Medicaid, prisons, etc.
I’m pulling for Pitts.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
We need moree cuts and less liberals in government jobs posting here….
Reply »
paulburka says:
Who are the liberals in government jobs? Perry makes all the appointments.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:57 am
the bored state workers posting here on state time.
Reply »
Blue Dogs says:
Burka, is there any chance Straus could run for Governor in 2014 if Perry retires ?
Could be interesting.
I believe the last TX House speaker to move up to the governorship was Price Daniel.
Reply »
anonymous Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Didn’t his wife shoot him or was that his son’s wife shooting his son.
Reply »
Anonymous says:
Thats the word..
Reply »
Anonymous says:
I am not sure the majority of the people that post here know a dang thing about how the process works or even a portion of the politic. They are clueless on both sides. There are some really ignorant comments here. I guess their world is all that they know.
Reply »
Anonymous says:
Like Jbb and Robert? Agreed.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:58 am
yep I’m as naive as a new born puppy….
Reply »
KB says:
If Hamilton goes down, it’s his own fault. He’s one of Straus’s chairs and I’m sure he could get what he wanted in redistricting. So, he chose to draw a district that he didn’t even live in, and move into it in order to challenge a rising star with the Tea Party, which is probably the most active movement in his party. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Reply »
Anonymous says:
He was definitely the least effective Chairman of the bunch.
Reply »
who needs facts when you can make them up? says:
Burka – you could not be more off base about Pitts’ race. He will win 65% or more. Both of the challengers in that race are complete novices with absolutely no grasp of any issues other than the standard tea party talking points. There is zero substance. And Pitts has endorsements from just about every possible group you could want, as well as from all of the major statewides.
Stick to starting rumors about something that might actually happen.
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Do any of his opponents have real jobs or are living off of Dunn and Linbeck?
Reply »
Anonymous says:
If the far right does not do a better job of recruiting than this nobody will lose.
http://texasconservativepolitics.blogspot.com/
Reply »
TheOriginal Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
I don’t know if I can trust a website that says not to vote for Ted Cruz because his nose is funny looking.
Reply »