Donna Howard was the candidate supported by the lefty blogs in Texas. I don’t know much about her, but her opponent is indirectly tied to the Delay scandal. So hopes are strong that her 58-42 win Tuesday is a precursor to more liberals/progressives taking office in Texas this year. But this district is in west Austin, so hard to tell.
The bad news is that the Texas House is still 85-64 in favor of Republicans. Good luck, Donna, you’re gonna need it.
Report from the Austin Statesman:
Howard wins House race
Howard, 54, is a former Eanes school board member and critical-care nurse. She stressed her Austin roots, which trace back to childhood, and her work with various organizations on education issues. Howard showed a keen interest in school finance questions by twice sitting through Senate hearings on the issue, even in the height of the runoff.
She played up her opposition to vouchers that would send students to private schools with public dollars, and she plainly stated that intelligent design, which holds that life is so complex that it must have been guided by some outside intelligence, should not be taught in public schools. She called on the state to pick up a much larger share of the burden of paying for public schools, specifically through an expanded business tax.