The filing deadline for a spot on the 2018 primary ballot has passed, but the candidate rosters are not yet finalized. The parties have until December 19 to submit their final certified candidate lists to the Secretary of State. Please see our Crib Sheets for candidates’ status.
Additional Filings Reported: The candidates listed below filed by Monday’s deadline, but those filings were not reported by the local or state parties until today:
· HD95: Fort Worth consultant Stephen West (R) filed against Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth).
· CD3 open: Dallas actuary Alex Donkervoet (R), creating a three-way primary for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Plano) with Sen. Van Taylor (R-Plano) and Richardson university professor David Niederkorn.
· CD29 open: Pasadena investor Jaimy Blanco and Houston journalist (and former Miss Venezuela) Carmen Maria Montiel filed in the Republican primary for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Gene Green (D-Houston), creating a four-person race for the Republican nomination.
Green Party: Losing automatic access to the ballot had a dramatic effect on the Green Party’s success in candidate recruitment. According to its web site, the party has just four candidates:
· Jan Richards for Governor. She is a progressive activist and community organizer who joined the Green Party last year after Bernie Sanders failed to obtain the Democratic presidential nomination.
· Jamar Osborne for Attorney General. He received less than 1% of the vote as the 2014 nominee for Attorney General. He does not have a license to practice law, received less than 1% in his last statewide run for an office that requires a law license. He unsuccessfully sued the state, claiming that lawyers were barred from serving as attorney general because of the constitutional separation of powers doctrine. He claimed that attorneys fell under the rubric of the judicial branch of government and thus could not serve in an executive branch capacity. He has also unsuccessfully sued the state claiming that the bar exam violates his right to free speech.
· George Reiter for Railroad Commission. He received less than 1% of the vote in a 2002 race for CD25.
· James Partsch-Galvan for CD29, the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Gene Green (D-Houston). He lost races for HD147 in 2000 (7%) and CD18 in 1998 (10%) as a Green Party candidate.
Their positions on the general election ballot depend upon the success of the party’s petition drive. The party needs the signatures of at least 47,183 qualified voters to qualify for ballot access, and the petition drive cannot formally begin until after the March 13 precinct conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties.
Importantly, no one filed for the Court of Criminal Appeals position (CCA8) that the Democrats left uncontested. A candidate for that seat would have had the best chance to receive 5% of the vote in a statewide race, which is the standard for automatic qualification for the next general election ballot.
Ho Confirmed: The U.S Senate confirmed the nomination of former Solicitor General Jim Ho to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a 53-43 vote. Meanwhile, the White House pulled the nomination of Asst. Attorney General Jeff Mateer for federal district judge.
Patrick Advanced: The U.S. Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary advanced the nomination of Ryan Patrick for U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Texas. Patrick, a former district judge, is the son of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R).
©2017 Texas Election Source LLC
