Let’s take a look at some of the winners in Tuesday’s elections in Texas.

1.  Dallas County Republicans. Toby Shook’s Republican primary victory in the District Attorney’s race could help other local Republican candidates on the ballot this November. Shook defeated Vic Cunningham and Dan Wyde. He will face Democrat nominee Craig Watkins in the fall campaign. Local Democratic leaders were hoping that former prosecutor Larry Jarrett would be their nominee, believing that Jarrett would be the stronger candidate in the fall. Watkins carries a lot of baggage into the general election, with tax liens on his home and lawsuits having been filed against him over unpaid debts. Republicans have John Wiley Price to thank for Watkins’ victory. In the final days of the election, Price swung his political weight behind Watkins in the African-American community which went heavily for Watkins and carried him to victory. Meanwhile, Shook relied on a strong, grassroots organization of current prosecutors, former prosecutors, and law-enforcement officials to propel him to victory. Cunningham may have had the endorsement of a majority of precinct chairmen, but they didn’t get out and work for him like Shook’s supporters did for their candidate. Lesson learned: grassroots still matter. Now that Dallas County has become a swing county (with Republicans and Democrats equally divided), Shook’s victory could help local Republicans hold onto the Courthouse in November.

2.  The Education Lobby. School Administrators, teachers groups, and PTA organizations encouraged their supporters to vote in the Republican primary in selective legislative races. Many Democrat and Independent voters heeded that advice and it paid off for the education lobby. Their biggest victory came with the defeat of House Education Chairman Kent Grusendorf by educator Diane Patrick. Again, grassroots organization made a big difference in that race as education groups mounted an effective ground campaign for Dr. Patrick. Grusendorf also was hurt by the perception that the Republican majority has had a long enough time to fix the school finance mess. As Chairman of the House Education Committee, Grusendorf became a convenient target to blame for the Republican failure to get a plan approved by the legislature.

3.  John Sharp. The Sharp Commission was formed to come up with a new method of financing public education in Texas. I commented yesterday on Clay Robinson’s article outlining Sharp’s proposal for an expanded business franchise tax and a 1/3 reduction in property taxes to replace the current system. (link) Voters signaled Tuesday that they wanted the school financing problem fixed. In the wake of the election results, John Sharp should have a lot more clout in getting his proposal approved by the legislature in the upcoming special session.

4.  Tom Delay. Tom DeLay won a big victory in his Republican primary campaign for re-election, garnering over 62% of the vote in a three way race. His big test, however, will come in November when he runs against the Democratic nominee, Nick Lampson. Lampson, a former Congressman from Beaumont, moved into the district to run against DeLay and has national financial backing from anti-DeLay Democrats. The wild card in the race is former Republican Congressman Steve Stockman who says that he intends to run as an Independent in that race. If that happens, the conservative Stockman likely will take more votes away from DeLay than from Lampson. I wouldn’t be surprised if DeLay’s supporters try to talk Stockman out of making the race.

5.  Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman. This low turnout in the primaries should make it easier for these would-be independent candidates for Governor to get on the ballot in November. I still see Strayhorn as the major threat to Perry’s re-election in November. She has the education lobby strongly behind her and enjoys the financial backing of deep-pockets trial lawyers. At the moment, I see it as a race between Perry and Strayhorn with Chris Bell’s only hope being that he can hold onto the Democratic base vote while Perry and Strayhorn split the Republican vote. Early indications are, however, that many Democrats have decided to back former Democrat Strayhorn on the basis that she has the only realistic chance of defeating Gov. Rick Perry in November.

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