Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog

The filing deadline has passed for 2016 races in Texas, and once again several U.S. House seats will go uncontested.

The first step to winning a race is showing up for one. Even token candidates force the opposition to expend time and attention on races they could use elsewhere. And having a candidate in the race helps you win during improbable circumstances (indictments, scandals, wave elections).

As usual, Democrats passed up more races than Republicans, but Republicans seemed to pass on a higher number of races as well.

Races Democrats Failed To Field a Challenger

Here are the races Democrats failed to show up in, and the current Republican incumbent:

4th Congressional District (John Ratcliffe, who drew two Republican primary opponents)

5th Congressional District (Jeb Hensarling)

8th Congressional District (Kevin Brady, who drew two Republican primary opponents)

11th Congressional District (Mike Conaway)

13th Congressional District (Mac Thornberry)

19th Congressional District (No incumbent, as Randy Neugebauer is retiring; five Republicans will be vying to take his place)

32nd Congressional District (Pete Sessions, who drew two Republican primary opponents)

36th Congressional District (Brian Babin)

With Democrats not contesting eight districts, it allows Republicans to shift time and effort into defending incumbents in more marginal districts (such as Will Hurd in the perpetual battleground 23rd).

Races Republicans Failed To Field a Challenger

Here are the races Republicans failed to show up in, and the current Democratic incumbent:

9th Congressional District (Al Green)

16th Congressional District (Beto O’Rourke, a white Democratic incumbent in a heavily Hispanic district whose drawn a Hispanic Democratic primary opponent, albeit one he already defeated four years ago)

20th Congressional District (Joaquin Castro)

On Republican missed opportunities, Joaquin Castro is the sort of rising star you want to force to defend his home territory, rather than go off gallivanting at the national level.

A few other points of interest:

Sheila Jackson Lee drew no less than four Republican opponents in District 18.

District 15, where Democratic incumbent Ruben Hinojosa Sr. is retiring, has seven Democrats (including Ruben Ramirez Hinojosa) and two Republicans vying for the seat.

Matt McCall (and two other Republican challengers) are gunning for Lamar Smith in District 21 again.

Tags: 11th Congressional District, 13th Congressional District, 16th Congressional District, 19th Congressional District, 2016 Election, 20th Congressional District, 32nd Congressional District, 36th Congressional District, 4th Congressional District, 5th Congressional District, 8th Congressional District, 9th Congressional District, Al Green, Beto O'Rourke, Brian Babin, Democrats, Elections, Jeb Hensarling, Joaquin Castro, John Ratcliffe, Kevin Brady, Lamar Smith, Mac Thornberry, Matt McCall, Mike Conaway, Pete Sessions, Randy Neugebauer, Ruben Hinojosa, Ruben Ramirez Hinojosa, Texas

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2015 at 8:00 AM and is filed under Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.