The New York Times’s Jonathan Martin reported that U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Coppell) is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow (Monday), which would make him the fourth Texas Republican in Congress to forego seeking re-election in less than two weeks. He would join U.S. Reps. Mike Conaway (R-Midland), Will Hurd (R-San Antonio) and Pete Olson (R-Sugar Land).
Marchant’s campaign has previously denied rumors he was retiring.
U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant
Marchant reported having nearly $2.2M on hand as of June 30 after raising $209K during the second quarter. He was out-raised by Democratic challenger Kim Olson for the period ($278K) and the other six potential Democratic challengers raised more money combined than the incumbent during the quarter.
The precincts currently comprising CD24 were 13 percentage points redder than the state as a whole in 2002 and have become steadily more competitive. In 2018, they were nearly 2 percentage bluer than the state as a whole. Marchant had historically over-performed the average Republican by up to 2.4 percentage points until 2018, when he under-performed it by nearly half a percentage point. Marchant won re-election over Jan McDowell, 51%-48%, in a district carried by Beto O’Rourke over U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R), 51%-48%. Donald Trump carried the district over Hillary Clinton, 50%-44%, in 2016. Marchant won re-election that year, 56%-39%, against McDowell.
The district includes portions of northwestern Dallas Co., southern and southeastern Denton Co. and northeast Tarrant Co. In 2018, Marchant lost the Dallas Co. portion by nearly 14K votes (55%-43%) and Denton Co. by just over 1K votes (51%-48%), but his 23K-vote margin in Tarrant Co. (60%-38%) gave him the victory over McDowell.
Of note, the district includes the home cities of Sen. Konni Burton (R-Colleyville), who was defeated in the 2018 general election; former Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving), who was also defeated in 2018; and Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford), who previously announced he would not seek re-election. This evening (Sunday), Stickland wrote a tweet suggesting he may enter the race:
The United States Congress needs REAL conservative leadership, and it needs it NOW. #tcot #24 #2020
— Jonathan Stickland (@RepStickland) August 5, 2019
Marchant is serving his seventh term in the U.S. House.
HD26: In a Facebook post, Rep. Rick Miller (R-Sugar Land) said he is “100% focused on running and winning re-election.” Miller said he is “honored to be under consideration” by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to be the next Commissioner of the Dept. of Family and Protective Services. Miller is reportedly one of two finalists for the position.
HD58: Rep. DeWayne Burns (R-Cleburne) announced he would seek re-election to a fourth term.
HD147: Houston educator Aurelia Wagner established a campaign committee for a potential primary challenge of Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston).
CD18: Houston resident Wendell Champion established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) as a Republican. We were unable to identify him conclusively.
CD23 open: San Antonio retired Navy cryptologist Tony Gonzales II announced he was switching races to open CD23 following the retirement announcement of U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio). Gonzales had previously announced he would challenge U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) in CD35. Gonzales entered the CD23 race with the endorsement of former U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-San Antonio).
CD33: Dallas progressive activist and 2018 primary challenger Carlos Quintanilla reauthorized his campaign committee for a primary rematch against U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth), who defeated Quintanilla, 71%-29%, last year.
Houston: The Houston Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Political Caucus endorsed Mayor Sylvester Turner for re-election.
©2019 Texas Election Source LLC
