Texas Roundup Notes

We're digging through the state results. Of interest:

In Congressional District 10, Democrat Ted Ankrum did refreshingly well against incumbent Michael McCaul. With almost all votes counted, Ankrum, in a conservative district stretching from West Lake Hills to suburban Houston, has pulled in 41% of the vote, vs. McCaul's 54%. Austinite Michael Badnarik – the Libertarian Party's nominee for U.S. president in 2004 – drew 4%.

The threat to conservative Democrat Chet Edwards in CD 17 never materialized – he took 59% in President Bush's home congressional district.

Close the door on the Tom DeLay era: Democrat Nick Lampson will take his old seat, his 50% holding off the write-in campaign of Houston City Council Member Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who pulled 43%. Lampson will have to be a mighty conservative Democrat – if Gibbs can do that well as a write-in, she could smoke him when her name is actually on the ballot.

The Republicans tried hard to challenge Eliot Shapleigh for his state Senate seat in El Paso, but he appears to be surviving: He has 58% of the vote with about 60% of votes counted.

Democrat Chuck Hopson got a run for his money in state House District 11 in East Texas, but he has won with 51%.

Incumbent Dem Robby Cook of Eagle Lake barely survived in state House District 17, taking 49% to Tim Kleinschmidt's 48% and Libertarian Rod Gibbs' 3%.

It's too close to call in House District 32 (Corpus Christi). Incumbent Republican Gene Seaman, dogged by a criminal investigation, has a 250-vote lead (out of 32,891 counted), with eight precincts out.

The resigned Vilma Luna's District 33 will stay Democratic: Solomon Ortiz has held off Republican Joe McComb, 52%-48%.

The anti-toll-road vote took a pretty high toll on Round Rock's Mike Krusee in District 52, but looks like he'll win – he currently has 50% to Karen Felthauser's 45%. That's amazingly close in a county as conservative as Williamson.

It's down to the wire in District 85, where former Democratic House Speaker Pete Laney is stepping down: Republican Jim Landtroop has 14,094 votes, Democrat Joe Heflin has 14,250, with two precincts still out.

Incumbent Republican Toby Goodman looks dead in District 93: His 9,566 votes trail Paula Hightower Pierson's 10,185 with only three boxes out.

Republican incumbent Tony Goolsby narrowly held off Harriet Miller in District 102, winning with 52%.

District 106 in suburban Dallas County, formerly held by Ray Allen, almost went Dem: Republican Kirk England won by only 231 votes over Democrat Katy Hubener.

The Dems did pick up District 107, knocking off incumbent Republican Bill Keffer. Dem Allen Vaught won 50%-47%.

The Dems look like they'll barely hang on to Carlos Uresti's old District 118; Joe Farias leads 49%-44%, with eight boxes out.

Another Dem pickup: GOP incumbent Martha Wong was shot down by Ellen Cohen by a resounding 55-43%.

Democrat Hubert Vo has indeed held off former House Appropriations Chairman Talmadge Heflin's attempt to regain his seat, 54-46%.