Gonzalez; Fierro Announce Re-Election

State Reps Mary Gonzalez and Art Fierro both announced their reelection bids recently. What makes it noteworthy is a couple of things.

First Gonzalez's long-time assistant pulled a Judas and went to work for the firm that has been trying to unseat her since she first won the seat. I don't know if Josh Carter sold Forma some magic beans but good luck beating Gonzalez. Even when she's had worthy opponents like Mary Sue Femath - or washed-up candidates well beyond their prime like Chente Quintanilla, she's always won by healthy margins.

I can't imagine there is a viable candidate for anything, much less state rep, that would take Josh Carter seriously as a campaign consultant. I have lost track of how many times he's lost his own campaigns and the only real campaign work he did for Gonzalez was make her coffee.

State Rep Fierro is in a different situation. Former State Rep Joe Pickett is indicating that he's feeling better and that he has a bunch of money left in his campaign account. So there are a couple of rumors floating around town about Pickett - one that he might consider running for his old seat against Fierro and the other that he might consider running for the Senate seat.

If I was a betting man, I'd put money on the senate run. Fierro hasn't given voters a reason to not send him back to the legislature and he's probably already built the relationships he needs with donors to keep himself competitive. He's big time codo (inside joke), but I don't think I've ever seen a candidate more comfortable picking up the phone and asking for money. He's also genuinely a really likable guy and I somehow still really like the guy despite the fact that he has terrible taste in football teams, is friends with Eddie Holguin, and he voted for that terrible revenue cap bill.

Nonetheless Fierro is safe AF (another inside joke).

Pickett would be a very compelling Senate candidate. Obviously this is all predicated on Senator Rodriguez retiring. There is yet another round of the Rodriguez is gonna retire rumor mill happening right now. Obviously if he retired there would be several heavyweights ready to throw their name in ring for the seat, but none bigger than State Rep Cesar Blanco and former State Rep Joe Pickett. With over $300k in the bank and the ability to raise more, it would be a very interesting race to watch. It would be one of those races that had a domino affect of other candidates taking a gamble and opening up some other seats.

But if its going to happen, its going to happen soon because the longer anyone waits the harder its going to be in the primary. Word on the street was that Rodriguez was going to try to position a successor of his choosing by announcing retirement at the last minute and having someone else ready to run right away. But with people like Blanco and Pickett waiting in the wings that no longer looks like an option.

Either way, its all starting to shape up to be a fun primary season!