Crowd of 23 candidates floods special congressional election in Texas
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[April 12, 2021]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The race to
succeed the only sitting U.S. congressman to have died from COVID-19 has
drawn a free-for-all of 23 candidates in a Republican-leaning district
of north Texas, where Democrats have made gains in recent years.
Representative Ron Wright, a Republican, succumbed to COVID-19 in
February. The May 1 special election to replace him will be the first
test of the Texas electorate, where Democrats hope to advance, since
President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
With so many people competing to represent the suburban Dallas-Fort
Worth area, the special election is expected to produce a summer runoff
between the two top performers. The contest could pit a Republican
against a Democrat or feature two Republicans, depending on the results
of the May 1 vote.

The race may be the most competitive of several special elections this
year to replace House members who have either died or gone to work for
Biden's administration. Others will be held in New Mexico in June and
Ohio in November; the date for a Florida special election has not been
set.
Every House seat counts. Democrats currently have just a seven-seat
majority in the chamber and will be battling to keep it in next year's
mid-term congressional election.
The sheer number of candidates in the Texas district - ten Democrats, 11
Republicans, an independent and a Libertarian - suggests anything can
happen. Early voting starts April 19. If no one gets a majority on May
1, the governor will schedule the runoff.
Wright's widow Susan, a conservative party activist with a string of
endorsements from Texas Republicans, is thought by analysts to have the
edge over a Republican field that includes Texas state legislator Jake
Ellzey; two former Trump administration officials, Brian Harrison and
Sery Kim; and an anti-Trump Republican, Michael Wood.
Prominent Democratic candidates include Jana Lynne Sanchez, who Wright
defeated in 2018; Lydia Bean, who lost a 2020 race for the Texas state
legislature; and Shawn Lassiter, a Black former science teacher.
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The U.S. flag flies in front of the Capitol Dome at the U.S. Capitol
in Washington, U.S., September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The north Texas region has sent a Republican congressman to
Washington since the 1980s, but Trump only narrowly won the district
last year.
“Democrats are a relevant force and if they don’t overly fragment
their own vote, should be able to place a Democratic nominee in the
runoff," said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice
University.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party's
congressional campaign arm, has not thrown its weight behind anyone.
Last year Democrats made a big play for Texas in the congressional
election by targeting ten seats including the 6th district, but they
lost all of them. The late Wright beat a Democrat by nearly nine
points in November.
Democrats think they have a chance in May if their voters turn out.
"In a special election you can have disproportionate turnout and it
gives Democrats a shot here," said Matt Angle of the Lone Star
Project, a Democratic political action committee.
Others are doubtful.
"As much as they may talk about flipping this congressional
district, their recent track record suggests that's unlikely to
happen," said Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics
Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Former President Donald Trump has not endorsed anyone in the race.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Scott Malone and Chizu
Nomiyama)
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