The runoff in the special election in Senate District 22 will be held June 22. Two Republicans will compete for the right to represent the district until January: former state senator David Sibley and Brian Birdwell. Former Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco) resigned from the Senate after filing for the March primary, which he won, so he remains the unopposed Republican nominee on the November ballot. No Democrat filed for the race.
If Averitt withdraws his name from the general election ballot, Republican Party officials from each of the ten counties that make up Senate District 22 can choose a replacement. According to state law, the Democrat party officials are also allowed to name a person for the ballot. In another twist, Averitt could choose to remain on the ballot and be sworn back into office in January. He could then decide whether to stay or retire again which would trigger another special election.
The Texas Republican Convention was held last week in Dallas. Houston lawyer Steve Munisteri was elected the new party chairman. Texas Libertarians also held their convention last week, selecting Houston lawyer Kathie Glass as their candidate for governor. The Texas Democratic Convention will be held in Corpus Christi June 24-26.
For those of you keeping track of the state’s sales tax collections, Comptroller Susan Combs announced that total sales tax collections have met or exceeded year ago levels for a second month in a row, following 14 months of decline. However, Texas is still about $1.5 billion behind where it was last year in terms of total sales tax collections.
Finally, the Big 12 has announced that it will continue on despite the loss of Nebraska and Colorado. The name of the division has yet to be announced but the Big Ten is already taken and the Big 12 minus 2 just doesn’t sound very powerful. Any suggestions?