In Congressional District 25, A Crowded Ballot
The eventual GOP winner from District 25 will face Democrat, Libertarian and Green Party candidates in the fall.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Thanks to a new political map, Travis County is now home to five congressional districts. District 25 – stretching from western Hays County through Travis and up to the Tarrant County line in North Texas – is home to one of the most high-profile primaries in the state. There are 12 Republicans running for the party nomination.
There’s an interesting aspect of a field of 12 candidates running for the same nomination: It doesn’t actually feel like a crowded field. Driving through the district, you don’t see wave after wave of campaign signs. There are just a handful, from two or three candidates at most. SMU political scientist Cal Jillson says when 12 candidates compete in a primary, as many as nine or even 10 can end up being invisible.
“They’ve got very little organization, very little fundraising, [and] no chance probably even to do brochures – let alone any other advertising,” Jillson says.
So how does a candidate stand out from the pack in 12-person race? According to Jillson, pretty much the same thing that distinguishes any successful candidate.
“You look at the top of the ticket and ask, ‘Who are the high-quality candidates that have access to fundraising and endorsements?’” he says.
In District 25, the two candidates who fit that description have a possible handicap: the same last name. They are former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams and former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams.
With just days before the election, those two candidates each have enough money to run TV ads and send out campaign letters. Republican strategist Ted Delisi says in a district that spans 11 counties, success depends on spreading your message.
“You need to distinguish yourself on the airwaves as a candidate capable of mounting the type of campaign to make the runoff,” Delisi says.
Nothing is ordained in an election with modest voter turnout – as is expected on primary day, Delisi says. But a runoff in District 25 is expected, which is why the top candidates have to make sure there’s still money in the bank – enough to keep people engaged through that second election day. And voters know that.
“This congressional race is so big, so robust, that voters aren’t trying to compare candidates,” Delisi says. “They’re just trying to figure out who they have some connection to and figure it out later.”
Primary day is May 29. The expected runoff date is July 31. The eventual GOP winner from District 25 will face Democrat, Libertarian and Green Party candidates in the fall.
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I have to say, I was a bit disappointed by this story, which can be summarized as “Lots of Republicans are running for Congress. The two most prominent have the same last name and lots of money.” I live in central Austin, and I’ve been newly gerrymandered into this district. More precisely, it has been gerrymandered around me. I would wager that many Austinites didn’t know their “new” congressional district until they received their voter registration cards a few weeks ago, and that many still don’t, and will be surprised when they go to vote on Tuesday. I can think of four or five interesting stories about district 25: Who lives there now, and how is it utterly different from the previous district 25? How does Austin figure into the district now? Why is the Republican field so crowded? What do the many candidates say about their connection to Austin? What are these Williams guys about and who supports them? Who is the Dem in the race, and why is that person unopposed in the primary?
I would love to see you do profiles of each congressional district that touches Travis County, including both the usual candidate q&as, and an overview of the “lay of the land” in each. Again, who lives in the district, where are most of its voters, etc.