District 10 is anchored in the west and north Houston suburbs (incumbent Repub­lic­an Michael McCaul‘s office is in Katy), encompasses a large swath of rural Texas, and then edges into Travis and Williamson counties. Seven Democrats officially filed for the March 6 primary; five have an online campaign presence, and one (Richie DeGrow) recently posted his withdrawal from the race.

The surviving five: Tech entrepreneur Madeline Eden of Bastrop (currently working on blockchain development) calls herself a “problem solver” and cites voting technology upgrades as a priority. Matt Harris (Austin) is a data scientist and project manager, with a particular economic interest in “Georgist” economic theories (after Henry George, and based on a “single tax” covering land and resource value). Mike Siegel is an assistant city attorney for the city of Austin (who has sued the state over anti-immigrant SB 4); he has also been a public schoolteacher and a union rep, and appears most ready for a professional campaign. Tami Walker is a Katy business attorney with considerable regulatory experience, emphasizing issues ranging from ethics to the environment. Tawana Walter-Cadien (Cypress) is a registered nurse with a health care emphasis, who ran and lost to McCaul in 2016.

Whoever survives the primary will face an uphill fight against the very deep-pocketed and experienced McCaul.

This article appears in February 9 • 2018.

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Contributing writer and former news editor Michael King has reported on city and state politics for the Chronicle since 2000. He was educated at Indiana University and Yale, and from 1977 to 1985 taught at UT-Austin. He has been the editor of the Houston Press and The Texas Observer, and has reported and written widely on education, politics, and cultural subjects.