Texas State Board of Education - Who Filed?

So, who filed in all of the Texas SBOE races by the deadline on Monday? Fortunately for all of us, we don't have to track that data down. My smart friend Suzy Allison did the work, so here you go. She's also got info about the location of the districts, as well as a snapshot of their voting history. Suzy is a Democratic activist in Clear Lake, and was a leader on Laura Ewing's campaign team in her 2008 run for the SBOE.

She sent this out as a newsletter, so if you'd like to receive future editions by email, please see how to do that at the end of this post. Here's the newsletter in full. I'll have some of my own analysis of these races over the next two months.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION NEWSLETTER

PRIMARY FILINGS ARE COMPLETE - CANDIDATES FOR THE MARCH 2 PRIMARY

District 1 - 38 counties from El Paso to Starr County along the Rio Grande, stretching north to include Midland County, Mason and Bandera Counties.  Rene Nunez (D), incumbent.  Nunez has filed to retain his seat, and will be challenged by Carlos "Charlie" Garza (R).  Neither has a primary challenger, so this is the November 2nd lineup.  This district's down-ballot race non-Presidential year performance in 2006 was 53.5% D, 46.5% R.

District 3 - All or part of 13 counties from Bexar in the north to Hidalgo County in the south.  Rick Agosto (D), incumbent.  Agosto, under fire on ethical questions and criticized for some votes with the far-right faction of the board, is not running for re-election.   Michael Soto has filed to run as a Democrat, and Tony Cunningham and Joanie Muenzler will face off in the Republican primary.  The down-ballot off-year numbers from 2006 for this district are 57.9% D, 42.1% R.

District 4 - Part of Harris County and a small part of Fort Bend County.  Lawrence A. Allen, Jr. (D), incumbent.  Allen has filed for re-election and will be unopposed in both the primary and general elections.  This district's off-year down-ballot percentages are 76.6% D, 23.4% R.

District 5 - Parts of Bexar and Travis Counties, as well as Bell, Burnet, Llano, Gillespie, Blanco, Kendall, Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe and Comal Counties.  Ken Mercer (R), incumbent.  Mercer has filed for re-election and will be opposed in the Republican primary by Tim Tuggey.   Rebecca Bell-Metereau, Robert M. Bohmfalk, Daniel Boone and Josiah James Ingalls will face each other in the Democratic primary.  The 2006 down-ballot percentages for this district are 41.2% D, 58.8% R.

District 9 - From  Fannin, Lamar and Red River Counties in the north, stretching south to include Brazos, Grimes and Walker Counties, includes part of Collin County.  29 counties lie entirely or partly in this district.  Don McLeroy (R), the incumbent, has filed for re-election and will be challenged in the Republican primary by Thomas Ratliff.  No Democrats filed.  The 2006 down-ballot percentages for the district are 35.9% D, 64.1% R.

District 10 - Parts of Travis County on the western end, and Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties on the eastern end, this also includes Williamson, Milam, Bastrop, Burleson, Lee, Fayette, Gonzales, DeWitt, Lavaca, Colorado, Austin, Washington and Waller Counties.  Cynthia Dunbar (R), incumbent.  Dunbar chose not to run for re-election.  Judy Jennings will be the Democratic nominee, as she has no primary opposition.  Rebecca Osborne, Brian Russell and Marsha Farney will face each other in the Republican primary.  This district's down-ballot performance in 2006 was 46.7% D, 53.3% R.

District 12 - Parts of Dallas and Collin Counties, Rockwall County.  Geraldine "Tincy" Miller (R), incumbent.  Miller has filed for re-election and will be opposed in the Republican primary by George M. Clayton.  No Democrat filed.  This district's 2006 down-ballot numbers were 37.8% D, 62.2% R.

District 15 - This 75-county (as in huge) panhandle district includes Lubbock County as its largest population center.  Bob Craig (R), the incumbent, has filed for re-election and will be opposed in the Republican primary by Randy Rives.  No Democrat filed.  This district's down-ballot numbers in 2006 were 30.2% D, 69.8% R.

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Next issue of this newsletter will include more detailed information on races and candidates, as well as a little bit of analysis and praise for a group doing great work in raising the profile of the SBOE race in District 10.

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The down-ballot off-year percentages given here are obviously not predictive.  They are taken from the raw numbers for a statewide judicial race in 2006 where neither candidate spent or campaigned much, so are fairly indicative of what party identification alone would get you.  I am indebted to the Texas Freedom Network for the data, which they released at a candidate training (and reality therapy) event in Austin July 22, 2009.  Demographic shifts in the intervening years, the increased public awareness of the State Board of Education and its ongoing controversies, and candidate efforts to increase their name recognition and get their messages out will have an impact on the electoral outcomes.

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News about candidates and events, requests to be added to or removed from the distribution list, and items about the SBOE are welcome.  The email address is Suzy.Allison@att.net.