The current crop of house Republicans from Texas are pretty powerful, but primary challengers are set to change that.
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Powerful GOP chairmen in deep-red Texas are fending off primary challengers in an election cycle dominated by the anti-establishment fervor gripping the country.
At least four of the Lone Star State’s seven House chairmen — new Ways and Means ChairmanKevin Brady, Rules Chairman Pete Sessions, Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry and Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith — are working to beat back challenges from the right ahead of the March 1 primary.
So is Texas Rep. Bill Flores, chairman of the 170-member conservative Republican Study Committee who was swept into office during the Tea Party wave in 2010.
“I’m sure when you have a chairman title, someone will say that makes you a target, that makes you part of the establishment,” said Flores, a former oil executive who’s squaring off next week with two GOP challengers, former McLennan County GOP Party chairman Ralph Patterson and local businessman Kaleb Smith.
Sixteen-term GOP Rep. Joe Barton, the dean of the Texas delegation and a former Energy and Commerce chairman, has two challengers of his own, while 85-year-old GOP Rep. Sam Johnson, a decorated U.S. fighter pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war, is defending his Dallas-area seat against three rivals. And the man taking on Rep. John Carter has questioned the powerful House appropriator and former Texas judge’s conservative credentials.
Even Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, the GOP gadfly and frequent cable TV guest, has a challenger. Rancher Simon Winston has said Congress has devolved into a circus and Gohmert is “one of the main clowns.”
To be certain, all of the incumbents are favored to win reelection. They are better connected, better funded and have better name ID than their long-shot challengers.
