Special Election Fills One of Three Vacant Seats in Texas House

Tuesday, Jan. 29, saw special elections to fill two of the three vacant seats in the Texas House. Democrat Art Fierro, with the endorsements of the entire El Paso delegation, prevailed with 53% over two opponents in the House District 79 race to replace veteran Rep. Joe Pickett, who stepped down for health reasons. Across the state, Houston's HD 145, vacated by now-state Sen. Carol Alvarado (who succeeded now-U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia) will go to run-off on a date yet to be set; the top two slots in the eight-candidate contest went to Democrats Christina Morales and Melissa Noriega, whose ex-husband Rick Noriega preceded Alvarado in the seat before his unsuccessful 2008 race against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. The third vacancy, in San Antonio's HD 125, goes to voters Feb. 12; former state Rep. Justin Rodriguez left the seat to become a Bexar County commissioner. Five candidates are running in that special, most notably former state Rep. Art Reyna and former San Antonio City Council Member Ray Lopez.