Election, Part Two

Houstonites better dust off their campaign badges again: Gov. Rick Perry has called the run-off election in Harris County's Senate District 17 race for Dec. 16. So Democrat Chris Bell and Republican Joan Huffman, who survived the six-way special election to replace Sen. Kyle Janek on Nov. 4, will be back on the stump soon enough.

Democrats are cautiously optimistic: While run-offs are hard to predict, there's a handful of healthy indicators. Bell did come first on Nov. 4, beating Huffman 38% to 26%: Add in fellow Democrat Stephanie Simmons' 14% share (although some activists saw her as a Republican front to split the vote and keep Bell below 50%), and the Dems actually had a majority. It also helps that the state party put a lot of time and energy into building up the Harris party infrastructure. Plus, with county Democrats almost sweeping the board in judicial races, it might not be the best time for former county prosecutor and district court judge Huffman to run on her GOP law-and-order credentials.

As for money, 8 days before the Nov. 4 election Bell still had $124,721 cash on hand, while Huffman only had $605 left in her war chest. That said, it seems pretty likely that big Republican donors will be looking to put some serious cash in this race ASAP.

Read Perry's full press release beneath the fold.

Gov. Perry Sets Special Runoff Election Date for Senate District 17

AUSTIN Gov. Rick Perry today announced a special runoff election to fill the vacancy in Senate District 17 to be held on Dec. 16, 2008. A special election to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Sen. Kyle Janek was held during the November 4 general election; however no candidate received a majority of the votes, as mandated by state law.

Early voting will run from December 8 through December 12.

The winner of this special election will serve out the remainder of Sen. Janek's term, which expires in January 2011.