Texas redistricting fallout edition - Daily Kos

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Daily Kos 11/28/11
Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Texas redistricting fallout edition
Leading Off:
• Texas: This edition of the digest is stuffed to the gills with news related to the fallout from Texas's new court-drawn congressional and legislative maps—and man has there been a Texas-sized ton. So grab your scroll wheel and head on down to our House and Redistricting Roundup sections if you can't wait to read more.

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House:

• TX-06: So far there's no reason to believe he's even looking at the race, but Democrats are hoping that Chet Edwards, who long represented an almost impossibly tough House district before getting swept out in 2010's red storm, will challenge GOP Rep. Joe Barton in the latest version of the 6th CD. The old 6th went for John McCain by 20 percent, but the new court-drawn map has sliced it down to just a nine-point McCain edge. (By comparison, McCain won Edwards' old 17th by a monstrous 35 points. Oh, and you'll want to keep that link handy as you read through the rest of these Texas bullets.) What's more, Edwards represented part of this district when he served in the state Senate in the 1980s.

Democratic strategist Matt Angle says the prospect of an Edwards run ought to make Barton "wet his pants," but the Waco Tribune-Herald's Michael Shapiro says that when he last talked to people "close to Edwards," he was "not interested in running in the 2012 cycle." Of course, that was before the new maps, so maybe Edwards is having second thoughts—and maybe Democrats will land a top-flight challenger and put an unexpected seat in play.

• TX-10, TX-25: While we're on the topic of "newly competitive Texas House districts," international affairs consultant Dan Grant is apparently taking a look at the revised 10th, which is now just a 52-47 McCain district (improved from 55-45). Grant ran in the old 10th in 2008, losing in the Democratic primary to Larry Joe Doherty, who in turn lost to GOP Rep. Mike McCaul. Last month, Grant announced he would explore a run in the legislature-drawn 25th, but with Dem Rep. Lloyd Doggett now seeking re-election there (his current seat, in fact), Grant put out a statement saying he'd defer to the incumbent. Burnt Orange Report's Katherine Haenschen interprets this to mean that Grant is eyeing McCaul, which could be a good get for Democrats.

Much more interesting analysis at the link above.

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