The screwiest election in recent memory just got screwier.
Now Democratic candidate Nick Lampson, who’s been calling for a special election since May when DeLay announced he’d be retiring, says that he won’t be running in the special election, choosing instead to focus on the general.
That’s in response to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) call earlier this week for a special election to fill Tom DeLay’s seat in the House. The election will take place the same day as the general election, November 7th, and will ensure that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs will appear on at least one ballot (if not on the general election ballot) on Election Day.
The filing deadline is today for the special election — and so far at least three candidates have filed. They are the hyphenated favorite Sekula-Gibbs, a Republican retired Air Force Major named Don Richardson, and a third candidate whose name hasn’t been released yet. If none of those candidates get a majority in November, then there would be a runoff to determine the winner in December… to decide who gets the seat until January.
Meanwhile, the only two canidates on the ballot for the general election will be Democrat Nick Lampson and Libertarian Bob Smither. Republicans will be spending millions to encourage voters to dial in “Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.”
Late Update: Five candidates have registered for the special election, according to the AP: four Republicans and a Libertarian.
