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Olson Wins Texas 22 Runoff
By Hastings Wyman
Southern Political Report
April 9, 2008 — Texas 22 (Sugar Land, etc.) Former Senate staffer and Navy veteran Pete Olson won yesterday’s runoff to choose the Republican nominee to oppose freshman Nick Lampson (D) in Texas’ 22nd District, the bailiwick once represented by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R). With 100% of precincts reporting, Olson had a more than two-to-one lead -- 15,492 (69%) to 7,118 (31%) -- over Shelley Sekula Gibbs, a dermatologist and former Houston councilwoman who held the seat for seven weeks filling out the balance of DeLay’s 2006 term. The results were a stunning reversal of the returns in the first primary on March 4 when Sekula Gibbs came in first in a field of ten candidates with 30% to Olson’s 21%. Olson combined vigorous campaigning with strong support from the state’s GOP establishment. Once an aide to US Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and former US Sen. Phil Graham (R-TX), Olson had the support of Cornyn and a majority of the Texas US House delegation. In addition, three of the losing candidates in the first primary, Brian Klock, Kevyn Bazzy and Ryan Rowley, whose combined totals came to 5% of the vote, endorsed Olson. Sekula Gibbs attempted to blunt Olson’s drive by calling him an outsider; he had moved from Northern Virginia, where he lived as a Senate staffer, to the district to run for congress. But Olson, a native of Texas, argued that he lived in Virginia simply because he worked in the Senate -- which gave him valuable experience -- not because he preferred Virginia to Texas. Sekula Gibbs was endorsed by former Sugar Land Mayor Dean Hrbacek , who came in third with 10% in the first primary, and by State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar, who came in sixth with 4%, as well as by a number of local officeholders and GOP officials. However, she was burdened by well-publicized references to her allegedly authoritarian style during her brief tenure in congress, when most of DeLay’s staff walked out rather than work for her. On the money front, both candidates were well-funded, albeit much of it from their own pockets. Olson lent his campaign $170,000; Gibbs lent hers $540,000. In addition, in the last reporting period, from February 14 to March 19, Olson raised $204,000 to Sekula Gibbs’ $157,000. The district has a heavy Republican tilt (Bush 67% in 2004), but Olson will face a strong incumbent in Democrat Lampson. Although a freshman, he previously represented a neighboring and overlapping district for several terms. Once a national Democrat in outlook, he has developed a more moderate stance and voting record in the past two years. Moreover, at the end of last year, Lampson had $716,000 on hand, and will probably report more at the end of the 1st Quarter of 2008. Nevertheless, the national GOP ranks this seat near the absolute top in potential pickups. In 2006, Lampson won by only 52%, even though his GOP foe’s somewhat cumbersome name -- Shelley Sekula Gibbs -- was not even on the ballot and had to be written in. |
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