The Other Candidates for Congress

You'd think by the blogosphere that there are only two candidates running for the 16th Congressional District of Texas. Interesting tidbit for those of you keeping score at home - the 16th District of Texas has never been represented by a woman or a Latina. There are currently 4 women running for the position, and one is Latina. 

There are in fact at least 5 total candidates - two "other" Democrats and an independent. That isn't counting whatever sacrificial lamb the GOP puts up or JOP who will inevitably run for a little attention again as a Libertarian. I put quotation marks around "other" Democrats because lets be real, Fenenbock is a Republican.

There's a reason I haven't really written about the other candidates...they don't matter and aren't going to win.

Relax people, I know the term "they don't matter" is a little harsh, but lets be real, you don't come here because I sugar coat things. 

What I mean is that they aren't going to get a significant portion of the vote and probably won't even force a run-off. 

Jerome "Community Conference Table" Tighlman - is running for congress...again. He's not going to do anything different than before and will leverage eloquent soliloquies that don't really contain substance via his main campaign vehicle - Facebook. Jerome is a great guy and always a good conversationalist, but he has no money compared to the other campaigns, he has no base of support, and he's far more focused on how he looks than on policy. At some point someone is going to talk about who is a show horse and who is a work horse and Jerome is going put right into that show horse category. He lists driving people to the polls during Bill Clinton's elections as part of his qualifications, so that gives you a sense of where he's coming from. He means well, and he is getting closer to showing some substance, but it is still hard to see how he's just not chasing another title. He'd be the least qualified candidate if Dori Fenenbock weren't in the race, but she is, so he isn't. 

Nicole LeClaire - is another candidate. She's witty, sharp, educated like Jerome, and solidly liberal. Those would normally be something to build on, but she's not going to have any money behind her. Without any money behind her, its going to be hard to introduce her to El Paso voters because well, no one knows who the hell she is. There's a reason they don't know who she is. SHE DOESN'T EVEN LIVE IN EL PASO. At some point she's allegedly moving to El Paso, allegedly, but the reality is that while she is from El Paso, she hasn't lived here in a long time. No major connections to the business groups, community organizations, political entities, etc. She lives in Houston and is running for a seat in El Paso. Again, in terms of politics I'm probably most closely aligned to her beliefs along with Escobar, (when she's not being a complete ideological hypocrite on immigration) but she's naive to think that voters, the ones who will even know show she is, won't take issue with her living in Houston. But frankly, even if she had moved from Houston 6 months before she decided to run, she's still not a serious candidate. Nice lady, but no base, no money, no name ID, no chance.

Jessica Kludt Allala - is an attorney who practices law focusing on seniors. She probably going to be pretty well versed on healthcare and several other issues. With the exception of Escobar, she'll be the most deep in policy knowledge. But she has the same problems the rest have - lack of financial support, name ID, and a support base. Her claim to fame is being Stephanie Townsend Allala's daughter, which is a double-edge sword. Some really like STA, some despise her, so that is probably a wash. But she made a bad political move which will guarantee she will not win and will lose pretty badly. She's a lifelong Democrat (by her own admission) but is running as an independent. She made a nonsensical comment about appealing to all El Pasoans as an independent. All that means is that if   Republican also runs for Congress, Allala will have the same single digit support of non-serious candidates like Jaime O. Perez. Trump is going to push Dems and Republicans to the polls in November and an independent is going to get trounced more than usual. She would likely have done much better running as a Democrat. Its going to be hard to explain in the Trump era why a lifelong Democrat would run as an independent. 

Up next - we'll talk about the County Judge's race...