
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party could find nobody to run against Pete Sessions in northeastern Dallas County's Congressional District 32. (The district also contains a portion of south-central Collin County.) There are, however, candidates from the Libertarian and Green Parties.
Gary Stuard is the first Green to run in TX-32 since Carla Hubbell ran in 2002, the very first race for that seat. The district was one of three created following the 2000 census. Sessions won the new seat with 67.77% of the vote, and he has occupied it ever since.
If you're in the Dallas area Sunday afternoon, 10 July, you can attend a meeting to find out more about Stuard and his campaign strategies. This is from the Facebook event page:
Gary Stuard is running for Congress in District 32 to oppose Republican incumbent Pete Sessions. Sessions is a climate change-denying, anti-immigrant, anti-worker, anti-right to choose politician who has misrepresented Dallas for far too long.
Stuard is running as a Green (there is no Democrat currently in the race) and believes in:
-A path to legalization for all immigrants
-Raising the minimum wage to $15/hour
-Full protections for a woman's right to choose
-And a bold, jobs-creating program to combat climate change
Because this is a truly grassroots campaign, we will need your help on every level. At this meeting, you'll get a chance to hear from Gary and his campaign team on the issues, how we can defeat Sessions, and how you can help.
So what are Stuard's chances this year? Let's look at some recent election results to get an idea. Here is 2014:
Pete Sessions (R): 96,495, 61.82%
Frank Perez (D): 55,325 35.44%
Ed Rankin (L): 4,276, 2.74%
But perhaps 2012, another presidential election year, makes for a more useful comparison. In TX-32, nearly 100,000 more votes were cast in the 2012 election than in 2014. Sessions has not done as well in presidential years as in midterms, although 2012 represents his best performance among the three presidential years so far (possibly resulting from the district being redrawn in his favor).
Pete Sessions (R): 146,653, 58.28%
Katherine Savers McGovern (D): 99,288, 39.46%
Seth Hollist (L): 5,695, 2.26%
McGovern's total translates into 100,000 votes that the Democrats are leaving on the table. If Stuard runs an effective campaign in this Year of the Pissed-Off Berniecrat, how many of those votes do you think he can pick up?