Today
Jason Earle announced his run for Texas House District 47. The Republicans have already promised to make this one of the "most
expensive races" in Texas history, so Jason will need your help to get his positive message of optimism out to the voters.
The district has been represented by Republicans for a long time, but it's a swing district with
no incumbent...so anything's possible. Since Jason grew up in the district, he has tremendous crossover appeal with his independent and Republican neighbors. Jason's web site just launched today, so please check it out and help
defend Mr. Earle from outside negative smear attacks.
Jason has a postive vision for Texas, and he wants to inspire young people to get involved and help rebuild the Texas Democratic Party. But Jason needs your help to pull off this upset. For more info, contact info@jasonearle.net or call (512) 524-3288.
Thanks for your support!
Sincerely,
Team Earle
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Here's a story from Capitol Inside that provides a little more background:
Democrats Ponder Pre-Emptive Fundraising Strike to Help Arm Prosecutor's Son for House Campaign
BY Mike Hailey - Capitol Inside
October 10, 2005
Some key Democrats are talking about launching a national fundraising drive as a pre-emptive strike designed to help Jason Earle prepare for the Republican wrath that his campaign for the Texas House is likely to attract as the son of the prosecutor that's persuaded two grand juries to indict U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay.
Instead of waiting to see if Republicans in and out of Texas take their anger with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle out on his son's campaign, some Democrats want to make sure that the younger Earle is sufficiently armed for a fight that has the potential to become one of the most closely-watched and most expensive state legislative races ever in Texas or beyond next year.
But there's no guarantee that the huge target that Republican pin on the Austin community relations consultant won't drag him down before he ever gets an opportunity to find out how intensely GOP partisans want to keep him from winning a seat in the Legislature. Earle, who's announcing his campaign for House District 47 on Tuesday, will have to overcome at least one Democratic primary opponent in order to compete in the fall for the southwest Austin seat that Republican State Rep. Terry Keel is vacating in favor of a race for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Valinda Bolton - a project coordinator for the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence - is also planning to run for the open seat and has former House member Glen Maxey in her corner. Maxey, who's currently leading the fight against the constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages, is a lobbyist who's been one of the most influential activists on the local political scene since stepping down from the House three years ago after Republicans eliminated his district.
Maxey warned in an email on Monday that Democrats could "kiss Dist. 47 goodbye" if a Jason Earle candidacy turns the Austin House race into a "national referendum on Ronnie Earle and Tom Delay" as many members of both parties are predicting it will. The television advertising that Republicans raise through a "get Ronnie" campaign will hurt Democrats' chances of ousting GOP State Rep. Todd Baxter in a neighboring district while making it tougher to re-elect Democratic State Reps. Mark Strama of Austin and Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs in other districts nearby, Maxey contended.
But other Democrats such as consultant Kelly Fero, who'd had reservations initially about an Earle campaign for the House, theorize that the felony indictments returned against DeLay during the past two weeks will have the effect of defusing a potential Republican blitz from outside the district as GOP members on the national level especially began to distance themselves from the embattled former U.S. House majority leader. Fero nonetheless thinks the DA's son should be prepared for the possibility that Republicans will rise up in arms in an attempt to crush the younger Earle's campaign as payback for the three-year investigation that culminated in first-degree felony charges being filed by two grand juries against the Sugar Land Republican and two fundraising associates.
In a district that's voted between 53 percent and 58 percent Republican in recent years, Democrats can expect to have a tough fight on their hands in the 2006 general election regardless of which candidate wins the nomination in March. Austin developer Bill Welch appears to be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the seat that Keel has represented for the past nine years. Welch, an Air Force Reserve member who helped coordinate military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan after being called up for active duty, fell seven votes short of a primary victory in HD 47 when current Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs defeated him in 1992.
Welch, who's prepared to spend a substantial amount of his own money in his bid for the House, is expected to face several primary foes in 2006 including business owner Alex Castano, former pro golfer Terry Dill, management consultant Rick Phillips and possibly others in round one of the contest.
Republicans in Austin predict that the younger Earle will encounter fierce opposition in the general election - if he wins the nomination - even if DeLay has lost some of the support he'd built up over the years within his own political party. A high-dollar push to defeat Jason Earle will be motivated by animosity that Republicans feel toward his father, GOP members say, not by loyalty or allegiance to DeLay.
But Republicans and Democrats agree that the extent of a GOP campaign against Jason Earle will depend significantly on how the criminal case against DeLay and his alleged co-conspirators transpires between now and whenever it ends. The powerful congressman has said he will push for a trial before the end of the year.