Ladjevardian in Democratic primary for 2nd Congressional District
With hopes of flipping a seat held by a high-profile Republican, the question of “electability” will be a top priority for Democratic voters in the March 3 primary for Texas’ 2nd Congressional District.
That would make Houston lawyer, political activist and former Beto O’Rourke adviser Sima Ladjevardian the logical choice.
A late entry in the race, filing just hours before the Dec. 9 deadline, Ladjevardian still reported the most money raised and cash on hand at the end of the year. She also has the best potential for raising the cash needed for the Nov. 3 election face-off with incumbent Dan Crenshaw, who is unopposed in the Republican primary.
National pollsters and analysts put the race in the “likely Republican” category, but Crenshaw’s 53 percent vote in 2018 suggests he is not invulnerable.
The other Democratic challengers are Elisa Cardnell, a Navy veteran, a single mom and high school math and physics teacher, and Travis Olsen, who resigned his job with the Department of Homeland Security last year in protest of the administration’s family separation policy and other immigration issues.
Cardnell argues that her two years of service on a Navy destroyer, including deployment to the Persian Gulf, will help counteract Crenshaw’s compelling biography as a Navy Seal severely injured by the detonation of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Olsen can claim credit for courageously standing up for his principles and the rights of others, a rare occurrence in today’s politics.
But in a Democratic field in which the candidates mostly agree on the issues, it is Ladjevardian’s fundraising and coalition-building strengths that stand out, revealed most recently in O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate campaign.
“I ran Beto’s campaign on the ground in the Senate race,” Ladjevardian,
54, said. “I have name identity within the communities, so I am able to mobilize people very fast. And that’s what we will need to beat Dan Crenshaw.”
Ladjevardian’s family fled Iran during the country’s revolution in the late 1970s. She has spent the past 30 years in Houston as an activist for progressive causes and candidates.
Democratic voters should give her the chance to challenge the incumbent.