Election 2022: We Got Ourselves Some Contests!

Photo by Jana Birchum

With the Texas Legislature pushing its (probably not entirely legal) gerrymanders through at the eleventh hour, the 2022 election cycle is still on schedule, and filing has now concluded for the March 1 primaries. That's, like, nine weeks from now, with two weeks of holidays, so what has been a grueling marathon of preelection feints and posturing and changing the rules is now a mad dash to the ballot box, including some notable late entrants.

Loony U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert will indeed run against Ken Paxton in a last-ditch effort to keep the scandal-racked attorney general from fumbling the MAGA bag in November. Texas Democratic Party Vice Chair Carla Brailey entered the lieutenant governor race – and pushed Matthew Dowd out of it – to bring some Blackness and womanhood to the top of the ticket. Our old friend Susan Hays, stalwart progressive attorney and activist in Dallas and Austin, is running for agricul­ture commissioner; she's been active on the cannabis legal front, which also interests the incumbent rodeo clown Sid Miller.

Downballot, former San Antonio City Council Mem­ber Rebecca Viagrán needs to catch up to front-runners Greg Casar and Eddie Rodriguez in the TX-35 congressional race. Across I-35 in the new TX-37, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett has three opponents, including TX-31 2020 contender Donna Iman; activist Claudia Zapata switched to the TX-21 race to face Chip Roy in November. Seven contenders will square off to succeed Rodriguez in the Lege; incumbent local House Dems (including James Talarico, who's switching seats and counties) have fairly easy paths. The GOP will see blood spilled in the primaries to fill redrawn GOP-leaning seats in Western Travis and Hays counties and to succeed retiring Rep. John Cyrier, R-Lockhart.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown avoided a rematch with Dyana Limon-Mercado, who is instead running to succeed County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir; she'll face Kurt Lockhart, who's been running for months. County Commissioners Brigid Shea and Margaret Gómez both have opponents with some heft – former Grassroots Leadership leader Bob Libal and Del Valle ISD Trustee Susanna Ledesma-Woody, respectively. The local GOP is not contesting those races, but has an awesome cage match in store to pick its leader, as Matt Mackowiak is challenged by überMAGA activist and 2020 Lege candidate Jennifer Fleck.