Shifting Allegiances in Congressional District 21

Lamar Smith

There's now a (slightly) smaller field in Texas CD 21, where last year's Democratic challenger, San Antonio-based Tom Wakely, has withdrawn from his potential candidacy and endorsed Rixi Melton, one of seven others officially campaigning for the Demo­cratic nomination to challenge longtime Republican incumbent Lamar Smith. (You can review the whole list at "Campaign 2018: Can Anybody Beat Lamar Smith?" June 9.)

Wakely now describes himself as a "post-partisan" and a "Berniecrat" – disillusioned with the Democratic Party and Dem-experienced candidates. In a statement he released with his endorsement of Melton, he wrote: "Like me, Rixi is not a politician. She never worked in D.C. or for the Democratic Party. We all are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics. As Senator Bernie Sanders has repeatedly said, the Democratic Party model and strategy is a failure. It needs fundamental change and I believe that Rixi is the only candidate capable of doing that."

Of his 2016 run against 30-year incumbent Smith, Wakely said that he "managed to do something no one else has been able to do in over 30 years … drop Smith's percentage vote total to 56.9%, the lowest of his career … and garnered more votes in 2016 than any Democrat in the state of Texas running against an incumbent congressional Republican." He said his campaign demonstrated that "a non-politician running a progressive campaign can move the needle."