2012 Texas Senate Race - Candidates, Debates and Primary Results

The Runoff

Former Texas SG Ted Cruz was able to force a runoff with Lt Gov David Dewhurst despite the Republican party throwing its support behind Dewhurst. Since the primary, the race between Dewhurst and Cruz has gotten especially nasty. Each side has accused the other of supporting amnesty for illegal aliens.

On the Democratic side, Grady Yarbrough was able to force a runoff with Paul Sadler despite doing only door to door campaigning. We have no information on Yarbrough and very little on Sadler.

The Primary

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced that she would be retiring to run for Governor of Texas in 2010. However, early in that election process, she decided to remain in office until the 2012 election. This situation has created an elongated election campaign with some candidates running since late 2010.

Despite there being no incumbent in the race, there is no serious opposition from the Democrats. A few high profile candidates have begun campaigns on the Democratic side only to suspend those campaigns when they failed to gain traction. The Texas Senate race is therefore marked as strongly Republican and the primary campaign for the Republican side will likely determine the next Senator from Texas.

The Candidates

There are nine candidates seeking the Republican nomination that have put forth serious effort in campaign. This includes participating in candidate forums, creating web sites, and putting forth campaign platforms. These candidates provide a wide range of choices ranging from career politicains to newcomers in politics.

David Dewhurst: Former Texas Lieutenant Governor and Texas Land Commissioner David Dewhurst was the initial leader in the Texas Senate race, with a large lead due to name recognition. However, his involvement in several state issues including his opposition to Texas attempts to remove the TSA from Texas airports has led to the race becoming more competitive. He has also been criticized because he did not participate in the candidate forums or debates.

Ted Cruz: Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz entered the race late, but has been making up ground due to support from a number of conservative blogs such as RedState. He has been targeted by the Dewhurst campaign for some legal work done for a Chinese tire company, but has been willing to answer questions on both this situation and his overall views.

Tom Leppert: Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert has come out with a formal plan listing points of views on numerous issues. He has also participated in numerous forums. Despite strong showings in those forums, he has not gained much traction.

Craig James: Former SMU and NFL football player and current sports analyst Craig James also joined the race relatively late, but has benefitted from name recognition. He was inititally attacked for being a political novice in early forums, but has been impressive in his willingnes to be forthcoming with his opinions and in his knowledge of current political issues. Despite this, it doesn't seem that he has been able to overcome the later entry.

Glenn Addison: Glenn Addison represents a true independent businessman as the owner of cemetary and crematorium businesses. He has shown conservative positions in the forums and has performed well. However, the lack of name recognition has hurt his prospects.

Lela Pittinger: One of earliest candidates in the race, Lela Pittenger started campaigning when Senator Hutchison announced her retirement and continued in the race when the Senator suspended that retirement until 2012. Mrs Pittenger has had difficulty separating from the rest of the conservative pack, partly due to the press given to other candidates as they enter the race later.

The Debates

There have been a large number of candidate forums going back almost a year. Most of these forums are held by local agencies and video is not available. Some of these are available and are included below and in the candidate profiles. Where posssible, the answers to these questions are included in the positions for the respective candidates.