Chron Editorial Offers A Take On Howard’s HD 48 Victory

Though it remains to be seen if the same will hold true in the reddest parts of Texas, the Houston Chronicle has offered its take on the Donna Howard victory in an editorial:

FOR those seeking an assessment of the mood of Texas voters as the March 7 primary approaches, look no further than the surprising results from a special election runoff to fill the House District 48 office, a Republican-redistricted seat in West Austin whose GOP incumbent resigned last November. Former Eanes school district trustee and nurse Donna Howard, a Democrat, decisively beat GOP opponent Ben Bentzin on Tuesday by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin.

Politicos from both parties say Howard’s victory indicates last year’s legislative stalemate on public education finance and reform has lit a fire under the electorate and has the potential to put many incumbents in jeopardy, both in next month’s primary and in the general election in the fall. In District 48, voter turnout actually increased from the first round 13,621 to a whopping 21,971 in the runoff, an almost unheard of phenomenon.

It would indeed be nice if this turns out to be the case in November, or before, when Katy Hubener goes for the gold in HD 106.

Personally, I think Hubener’s race will be a better indicator of the mood of the electorate in North and East Texas. Even though HD 48 was drawn to be Republican, Travis County is still a world away from Dallas County, Tarrant County, Gregg County, Smith County, etc.

And, if this “incumbent backlash” will put R’s in danger, is it time to start worrying about D’s like Mark Homer and Chuck Hopson? Although they remain part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem, can this easily be translated to the electorate in their districts? Or will their GOP opponents use “incumbent backlash” in their favor by saying all incumbents are the problem while D’s maintain all Repub incumbents are part of the problem?

Only time will tell.

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