ABOVE: Texas Governor Greg Abbott (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) and Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Okay, voters!
The candidate filing deadline was this past Monday, December 13, 2021, and almost every Statewide elected official has multiple challengers from within their own party in the pivotal primary elections coming up on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Several notable names have chosen to file for re-election, while several others have chosen to step away from their respective seats to either retire or pursue another sought after seat.
The Houston Forward Times is your continued source of important information regarding voting and other key issues surrounding politics, and we want you to be aware of certain key races that you want to keep your eye on from a local standpoint, whether Republican or Democrat.
The candidate list has been set for U.S. Congressional districts, statewide offices, Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives, Texas State Board of Education, along with key seats in Harris and Fort Bend counties.
Let’s start at the federal level first.
As was no surprise, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) filed to run for her twelfth term as a member of the United States House of Representatives. She will be the Democratic nominee in the November general election in 2022, as she did not draw a primary opponent and will only be opposed in the general election by a Republican challenger.
The same applies to Congressman Al Green (TX-9), who is seeking his 10th term as a member of the U.S. House. He did not draw a Democratic primary challenger and will be facing three challengers in the 2022 November election.
In the race for the 7th Texas Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher will be facing two Democratic primary challengers, including media businessowner Centrell Reed of CReed Global Media. In the 14th Texas Congressional District race, incumbent Republican Congressman Randy Weber Sr. will be facing two Republican challengers, with three Democratic candidates vying for the nomination, including Eugene Howard, who is the former Brazoria County NAACP Branch President.
Now, let’s look at the statewide offices, of which no Democrat has held a statewide seat in years.
Current Republican Governor Greg Abbott is facing seven Republican primary opponents, and there are nine other individuals vying to unseat him in November 2022, including former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’ Rourke and Fort Bend County resident Deidre Gilbert, who is running as an Independent.
Of course, incumbent Dan Patrick is running for re-election as Lieutenant Governor, and he has five Republican primary opponents. There are three Democrats running to be the nominee and on the filing deadline, current Texas Southern University professor and former Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, Dr. Carla Brailey announced that she was running for the seat.
“As a mother, educator, and movement builder, I am proud to announce my run for the office of Lieutenant Governor of the great state of Texas,” said Brailey in a statement. “Texans are crying out for change and for leaders that will build a state that cares for all Texans. “I couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore and watch as Dan Patrick tried to drag our state backwards. As Lieutenant Governor, Patrick hasn’t delivered for Texans. He’s more interested in hateful rhetoric, attacks on our rights, and conspiracy theories. Texans deserve a leader that will put their interests first by building good-paying jobs, high quality education, affordable housing, and high-quality, affordable healthcare.”
Scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton is running for re-election and is facing three Republican challengers, including current Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Texas Congressman Louis Gohmert. On the general challenger side, five people are vying for the seat, including civil rights attorney Lee Merritt.
In the race for Texas Land Commissioner, that will be an open seat, because current officeholder George P. Bush is running for Texas Attorney General, as stated before.
In the race for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Republican incumbent Sid Miller faces two Republican challengers, including current state representative James White. There are also two Democrats vying for the general challenger side.
Another statewide election of importance involves the decision by State Board of Education member Lawrence Allen Jr. deciding to step away from the seat to run against the current (TX-26) state representative Republican incumbent.
The other statewide races that will be contested, either at the primary level or general election, will be: Texas Comptroller; Justice, Supreme Court of TX, Place 3; Justice, Supreme Court of TX, Place 5; Justice, Supreme Court of TX, Place 9; Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5; and Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6.
The race for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2 is completely uncontested.
Moving on to the state senate and state representative seats.
For Texas State Senate, incumbents Borris Miles (TX-13) and Carol Alvarado (TX-6) have no challengers on the primary side or the general challenger side, while incumbents Royce West (TX-23) and John Whitmire (TX-15) will each only have a Republican challenger in November 2022.
For the Texas House, there are some interesting races.
The open seat that came about after the retirement announcement by Garnet Coleman (TX-147), has fielded seven candidates on the Democratic side and two Republican candidates. On the Democrat side, notable names like former Houston City Councilwoman and Houston Independent School District trustee Jolanda Jones and current Houston Community College Trustee Dr. Reagan Flowers are amongst the challengers.
Alma Allen (TX-131) is running again and has two Democratic primary challengers and a Republican challenger. Harold Dutton (TX-142) and Ron Reynolds (TX-27) both have a primary challenger in March and a Republican challenger in November 2022.
Senfronia Thompson (TX-141), Jarvis Johnson (TX-139) and Shawn Thierry (TX-146) are completely unopposed.
There will be many races in Harris County and Fort Bend County on the ballot as well, such as the race for Harris County Judge, where incumbent Lina Hidalgo will be facing two Democratic challengers and there are eight Republicans vying for the general challenger side.
Other races involve Harris County District Clerk, County Clerk, County Treasurer, Civil Courts, Civic Courts, Criminal Courts, Probate Courts, Justice of The Peace, two County Commissioner seats, and Harris County Department of Education.
In Fort Bend County, the following seats will be on the ballot for voters:
Fort Bend County Judge, District Attorney, District Clerk, Treasurer, Commissioner Precinct 2, Commissioner Precinct 4, County Clerk, County Court at Law seats, District Judge seats and Justice of the Peace seats.
The Houston Forward Times will keep our readers up-to-date on the latest relative to the upcoming March 2022 primary elections and hope that the candidates for these seats understand the importance of getting their message out through this powerful and trusted news outlet.
Stay tuned!