Texas: Heflin asks for recount in Texas House
Josh Marshall reports: On election day, one of the most powerful legislators in the Texas House of Representatives, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Talmadge Heflin (R-Houston) got beat by a Vietnamese American businessman named Hubert Vo (D).
It was awfully close -- 32 votes. And it was also the first Democratic gain in the Texas state House in 32 years. (They've had a string of rough decades.)
With such a narrow margin, Heflin is understandably calling for a manual recount, which he's just officially requested.
But more than that seems to be afoot. -- Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 21, 2004 - November 27, 2004 Archives
I had overlooked this story. My thanks to Josh Marshall for getting it. There's lots more on this in his blog.
DemFromCT quotes an "involved friend from Texas:" Texas law dictates that a contest of a legislative election is heard not in court, but in the House of Representatives (87 Republicans to 62 Democrats). No election has ever been overturned by the House out of 8 contests in 150 years because everyone knows that voters in their districts wouldn't stand for it. This one is being set up to be the first. -- TX - State Rep Seat Won By Dem May Be Overturned (Or Recounted, Or...)