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The 2022 elections have officially begun.

Comal and Guadalupe county candidates on Saturday began filing the necessary paperwork with Republican and Democratic county party chairs for offices in the March 1, 2022 primary elections.

Because most offices up for election in both counties are held by Republicans many of whom wont be opposed in either the primary or the Nov. 8 general election, expect little movement until the month-long filing period ends at 6 p.m. Dec. 13.

However, dozens of candidates for statewide offices declared their intent to run long before Saturday.

Democrats hopes to turn Texas blue next year were dashed by a colossal Republican blowout on Nov. 2. Neither of Texas two U.S. Senate seats is on the ballot in 2022, but 14 state offices are including the top two positions.

Despite being flush with cash and determination, Democratic candidates in statewide and local races were met by Republican voters stubbornly determined to not cede power.

Gov. Greg Abbott, facing re-election himself in 2022, wasted no time in taking to Twitter to talk about the Democrats and their failed efforts.

Groundhog Day here in Texas: Biggest red state stays red, Abbott tweeted. Texas Democrats have gone 26 years without winning a statewide race. That is the longest losing streak of its kind in America. Texans appear to like it that way!

All Democratic and Republican candidates must pay filing fees of $3,750 or submit petitions with 1,750 or more signatures to appear on the primary ballot. Thirty-two U.S. House seats and 151 state House seats are up for election, as well as half of the states 31 senate seats.

Thanks to redistricting by the 87th Texas Legislature, residents in New Braunfels will select one of four U.S. House races in the 15th, 21st, 28th and 35th districts. In addition, the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state comptroller, agriculture commissioner and land commissioner are on the ballot in statewide races.

Abbott will face several in the Republican primary as he seeks his third term as governor. Former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West and former state Sen. Don Huffines are two of the most prominent primary foes.

On Monday morning, Beto ORourke announced he would be running for the Democratic nod in the governors race.

Democrats have banked on shifting demographics that are making the state younger and more diverse, particularly in the suburbs and major cities. They continue to believe those changes will eventually turn the tide in their favor.

But they have to overcome the tinge of the off-year elections.

U.S. House District 35

Leaving the 35th District is U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who will instead run in the 37th District, a newly formed U.S. House district that encompasses much of Austin. For Doggett, 75, redistricting is a homecoming. He was originally elected to Congress in 1994 in the then-Austin-based 10th District, which once was represented by Lyndon Baines Johnson.

But Republicans in 2011 split Travis County, a Democratic haven, into six congressional districts and forced Doggett to move into the 35th, which stretches from East Austin to San Antonio.

The opportunity to once again represent the neighborhoods that I grew up in, that Ive lived in and worked in for most of my life in the city that is the only city that Ive ever called home that really is very appealing, Doggett recently told the American-Statesman. Living on I-35 is very unappealing.

The new 35th still runs from eastern Travis County to San Antonio along a narrow strip of Interstate 35. It includes 300,000 residents each in Bexar and Travis counties. In the middle are about 140,000 Hays County voters and 40,000 in Comal County. Its heavily Democratic, nearly 70% Black and Hispanic combined, but two GOP hopefuls are likely to file.

In New Braunfels, District 35 runs right through the eastern fringe of Comal County. It includes Hunter Road to the west then cuts southeast along the I-35 access and main lanes before it slants west along Morningside Drive and County Line Road to the east.

A lot of people who used to be in District 35 on the H-E-B side (of I-35) are now in District 21 but those on the Walmart side are still in 35, was how Comal County Elections Administrator Cynthia Jaqua described it.

Austin Democrats Claudia Zapata and David L. Anderson Jr. announced campaigns for the seat in June. State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, has filed campaign paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. Running is Austin City Council Member Greg Casar, who said hed resign the seat hes held since 2015. Not running is State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, who instead will seek reelection to the Texas House.

U.S. House District 21

Each primary year dozens of state and national candidates declare for positions months before filings begin and spend the months in between testing the fundraising waters through social media. Many of them disappear before filing fees come due.

But District 21 U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, might have some primary opposition this time around as Michael French is seeking the GOP nod against the incumbent. French says he is a member of New Braunfels Conservatives, the Bulverde Spring Branch Conservative Republicans, and GOP connections in Blanco, Travis, Hays and Comal counties.

Scott Sturm, a paramedic from New Braunfels, announced for a House seat in northeast Texas in 2018 but dropped out prior to the deadline. Hes seeking the Democratic nomination in the district, as is Coy Branscum from San Marcos.

Im not getting any younger and though Ive enjoyed working in public service in EMS for the past 20 years I yearn to make a bigger impact, an even more positive impact on this world before I leave it, Sturms campaign website said. I dont have children, yet, but I want to fight and make sure that not only is there a world for them but that its better off than when I got here.

Branscum, from Dripping Springs, is asking for donations and volunteers to share our campaign with anyone who wants to make history, helping to elect the first open gay man to represent Texas in Congress.

Now Ive got a new request. To officially get on the ballot, Ill need to pay a $3,500 filing fee. This is a great example of how the wealthy gate-keep politics to keep average Americans from having a voice in government. If 140 people donate $25, well hit our goal EASY.

Others running include Republican Robert Lowry from San Antonio, and four other Democrats, including Michael Smitty Smith from Blanco.

Guadalupe County

In Guadalupe County, which contains portions of the city of New Braunfels, a new addition is the 28th District, a nine-county district that runs from San Antonio in the north to Laredo and Rio Grande City on the U.S.-Mexico border, covering part or all of Bexar, Guadalupe, Atascosa, McMullen, Webb, Duval, Zapata, Jim Hogg, and Starr counties.

Locally, D28s north boundary borders District 35 along I-35 in central New Braunfels then cuts east and south of Interstate 10 in central Guadalupe County. It parallels I-10 into east San Antonio then winds southwest of District 35 toward the international border.

Henry Cuellar, D-San Antonio, has represented the district since 2005. He is facing two primary challengers from the Democratic progressive wing, and in the general would face one of five now seeking the GOP nomination.

There will also be a change in the 15th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, will seek reelection in the 34th Congressional District rather than his current 15th, which includes Seguin and the eastern part of Guadalupe County. The district is nicknamed the fajita strip because of its length and narrowness, but perhaps also because of the great Tex-Mex cuisine throughout the district.

Gonzalez has the blessing of the incumbent, retiring U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville.

In 2020 he won reelection by a surprisingly close margin against GOP challenger Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez, who is favored to win the Republican nod over Mauro Garza, a former congressional candidate from the San Antonio area with a home in McAllen, Ryan Krause of New Braunfels, De La Cruzs opponent in the 2020 GOP primary runoff, and two others.

Texas House

and Senate

Texas Senate District 25 now includes most of Comal, Hays and Kendall counties, north San Antonio and northwest Bexar County.

Ten years ago, an upstart named Donna Campbell defeated longtime GOP incumbent senator Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio in the 2012 GOP primary, winning a two-year term. In 2014 she beat former San Antonio city council member Elisa Chan, and Mike Novak, a former Bexar She brushed back primary and general election challenges in 2018 but now appears to have no opposition in a district redrawn more conservative.

District 24 Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, was drawn out of her district and into Campbells after she announced for land commissioner. Democrat Jinny Suh sought the Democratic nod in District 25 but now is also running for land commissioner.

After nearly six years in the Texas House of Representatives, Fredericksburg State Rep. Kyle Biedermann won the District 73 seat in 2016, defeating three-term New Braunfels incumbent Doug Miller in the GOP primary and captured the seat without Democratic opposition in the November general election.

Biedermann announced he would not seek reelection in District 73. His decision came after the first draft of the redistricting map, which separated Gillespie and Kendall counties from Comal County and added the rural portion of Hays County.

Biedermann, 62, who owns the ACE hardware store in Fredericksburg, is now in District 19, but declined a run against former Austin City Council Member Ellen Troxclair and Austin police officer Justin Berry.

Justin Calhoun, a 32-year-old social worker from New Braunfels, announced for the D73 Democratic nomination leaving the three Republicans to duke it out in the primary.

Carrie Issac of Dripping Springs brings a big war chest against two former New Braunfels elected officials, Barron Casteel and George Green. Green, former District 1 council member, announced in September; Casteel, who was New Braunfels mayor from 2014-20 announced after Biedermann departed the race in October.

Biedermann won the District 73 seat in 2016 by defeating three-term New Braunfels incumbent Doug Miller in the GOP primary sans Democratic opposition that November. Miller was asked to support Issac, but is backing Casteel.

I had to tell Carrie that District 73 is a Comal County seat, Miller said. We need to have a Comal County represented and I believe Barron Casteel is the right person for the job.

The last day to register to vote is Monday, Jan. 31; the early voting period begins Monday, Feb. 14 through Friday, Feb. 25. For election information and updated candidate filings, visit the elections link at the Texas Secretary of States website, http://www.sos.state.tx.us.

Read more from the original source:
Republicans aim to keep their firm hold on Texas - Herald Zeitung