Texas has 32 Congressional Districts. Democrats hold 13 of those seats currently, and are fighting in six more, officially, and another two unofficially. Eleven are completely uncontested Republican seats.
I plan to have a series of diaries detailing each race, lauding our incumbents, heralding our challengers, and seeking potential candidates for the uncontested races.
I have divided the state as best I can, considering the redistricting, re-redistricting, and general clusterf#@k Tom Delay made of our state. Please don't critique my division, it's just what made sense (sort of) in my head.
I've started in West Texas for a couple of selfish reasons. 1) While geographically huge, it has low population density and therefore few representatives. 2) Democrats are incumbents for two of the three districts.
So, here are the Congressional races for the Western section of our fair state.
TX-11 Incumbent Mike Conaway (R), Challenger: Brad Vincent (D)
TX-16 Incumbent Silvestre Reyes, Challenger: none
TX-23 Incumbent Ciro Rodriguez, Challenger: quite a few
Brad Vincent is the Democratic challenger for CD-11, currently occupied by Mike Conaway (R-Midland). The district encompasses West and Central Texas, and in the 2004 cycle Bush carried it by 78%. But the times are changing, and Brad Vincent has a vision for what he wants for his hometown and surrounding areas. If you haven't seen his commercials, check them out. I especially like "Together".
Donate to Brad
Silvestre Reyes is the incumbent for CD-16, which Kerry carried 56.5%. He was first elected to the post for the 1997 term, and has been there ever since. The city of El Paso in in this district. He currently has no announced challengers, and in the '06 cycle faced only a Libertarian challenge. I don't know if he will face a primary challenger, but it's a solidly Democratic seat. Donate to Silvestre
Ciro Rodriguez is the incumbent for CD-23. This gerrymandered district was the focus of the re-redistricting battle that saw piles of attention in the 2006 cycle. I won't repeat it here, but it was a kick ass election and runoff, where Texas finally got some help from the State and National parties.
According to the Wiki Race Tracker, Ciro faces one confirmed Republican challenger and two potential challengers (I'm not counting Bonilla). He also may have two primary challengers. There were LOTS of candidates in this race last season after the re-redistricting. This could be another exciting time for the folks in CD-23. Donate to Ciro
So, that's the short story on the three Congressional Districts in West Texas. I'll be aiming for North Texas next, with CDs 3, 4, 13 and 19.
In the meantime, Donate where you can, and GET ACTIVE!