FARENTHOLD THROWS MONKEY WRENCH IN CD-27 WORKS

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Aren't you glad we don't have the mess they are having in U.S. Congressional District 27 after Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, resigned April 6?

His sudden resignation came one month after the Democratic and Republican parties held their primary elections that resulted in double runoffs for the May 22 election.

In it, two Democrats -- Raul "Roy" Barrera and Eric Holguin -- are vying for the congressional seat. Bech Bruun and Michael Cloud are running for the seat on the Republican side.
The winners of the runoffs will face off in the Nov. 6 election.

Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott got the go-ahead Monday from Attorney General Ken Paxton to suspend state law so the governor can call a special election to replace Farethold as soon as possible.

Responding to a request from Abbott submitted Thursday, Paxton issued a nonbinding opinion saying a court would agree Abbott could set aside the election rules under a part of Texas law that lets the governor suspend certain statutes if they interfere with disaster recovery. 

Abbott said last week he wanted Farenthold's former constituents to have new representation "as quickly as possible" because the Coastal Bend-area's Congressional District 27 is still reeling from Hurricane Harvey.

"If the Governor determines the situation in Congressional District 27 constitutes an emergency warranting a special election before November 6, 2018, a court would likely conclude that section 41.0011 of the Election Code authorizes calling an expedited special election to fill the vacancy in that district," Paxton wrote.

Paxton's nonbinding opinion paves the way for Abbott to work around state and federal laws that he said are in conflict and make it "practically impossible to hold an emergency special election ... before the end of September." The governor's office did not immediately say what he planned to do in light of Paxton's opinion.

Farenthold resigned amid mounting scrutiny over the revelation last year that he used $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment accusations in 2015. 

To stir the pot even more, CD-27 is among several districts that are the focus of a case that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today. Plaintiffs in the case argue that the districts were created in a way that discriminates against minorities and should be redrawn. A lower court agreed, and the high court is hearing Texas' appeal. It's not immediately clear how a Supreme Court ruling against Texas would affect special election plans.

District 27: The district includes Aransas, Calhoun, Jackson, Lavaca, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, Victoria, and Wharton counties and some parts of Bastrop, Caldwell, Gonzales, and San Patricio counties.

Vacancies can be a result of death, resignation, declination, withdrawal or House action, according to the archives website for the U.S. House of Representatives. It's constitutionally required that vacancies be filled by an election, according to the site.

The winner of a special or emergency election would serve out less than a year in office to complete Farenthold's unexpired term. Farenthold’s resignation also came too late for a special election to be called on May 5, which would've been an earlier scheduled uniform election date.

Abbott can also call for an emergency election to fill Farenthold’s seat, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution, on any date he chooses, if he feels such action is warranted.

If he had resigned in mid-December there might have been enough time to make the required special election to finish his term worthwhile.

Now we have the incongruous situation where there will be a double party runoff on May 22 and a special election later and then a runoff ( if necessary?) sometime in September. The party runoff winners will compete against each other in the general election November 6 and the winner will take office January 2019. 

Now, will the party candidate who are already in the runoff elections be eligible to run in the special election? Will the candidates who lost in the primaries still be eligible to vote in the special election and runoff that follows?

And aren't you glad that we aren't in CD-27 anymore?