Polar opposites vie for House seat in District 29

GOP incumbent facing staunch liberal challenger

A Bernie Sanders liberal is taking on one of the most conservative members of the Texas House of Representatives in District 29 in Brazoria County, presenting voters with, perhaps, the starkest contrast between candidates of any race in Texas.

Democrat John T. Floyd, 48, who was a Bernie Sanders’ state delegate, is challenging Republican Ed Thompson, 65, who earned a 98 percent rating from the ultra conservative Eagle Forum.

The candidates may offer the most radically different visions of government of any race in Texas, said Elizabeth McLane, chairwoman of the government and economics department at Alvin Community College.

Floyd is making an audacious challenge in the most conservative of Texas’s 21 largest urban counties, McLane said. Even so, Democrats’ chances are better than ever and are likely to keep improving as the district becomes more urbanized.

District 29 stretches roughly from Beltway 8 south to FM 2004, with the city of Pearland covering the north end of the district, Manvel and Iowa Colony in the northeast, Alvin in the east central and Liverpool farther south. Nearly half the district’s population of 176,000 is in Pearland.

Nearly all the district’s growth is in west Pearland, which is trending Democrat. East Pearland is the oldest part of the city and dominated by traditional conservatives, as are the two other largest cities, Manvel and Alvin. The rest of the district is largely rural.

Tough trend for GOP

The expanding and increasingly diverse population in Pearland could make Republican control of the district difficult within five to 10 years, McLane said.

Floyd is a knowledgeable and articulate lawyer who could benefit from the population boom, making him the strongest candidate the Democrats have fielded for the House seat in more than a decade, she said.

Despite Floyd’s strengths, incumbency, name recognition and money tilt election chances toward Thompson, an insurance agent.

Thompson is backed by the political action group Friends of Ed Thompson, which reported $325,000 cash on hand in July while Floyd reported zero. Floyd said he had raised about $5,000 in addition to the $4,500 loan he made to the campaign; he said he expected to raise about $15,000.

Thompson also is well known, having been president of the Pearland Economic Development Corp. and a member of the Pearland City Council from 2010 to 2012. He won a special election in 2012 to fill the seat vacated by Republican Randy Weber, who resigned to make a successful run for the 14th congressional district seat.

‘Uphill battle’

Despite his advantage, Thompson said he is taking Floyd’s challenge seriously. “I never take any opponent for granted,” he said.

Floyd has no illusions about his chances of winning: “I’ve realized this is an uphill battle from the beginning.”

He is counting on the growing number of minority voters and disenchantment with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump among white voters. He hopes that distaste for Trump among moderate Republicans and independents will influence elections like his further down the ballot.

Thompson, a Trump supporter, says his past experience in government gives him an insight that Floyd lacks.

“It’s pretty easy to stand back and say the district is changing, but it‘s hard to stand back and say that unless you know what the district is like,” Thompson said.

Thompson is well liked in the business community, and Floyd believes that is why he is having difficulty getting permission to put out campaign signs to compete with Thompson’s, which have sprung up all over the district.

Floyd said he hopes to counter Thompson with a grass-roots campaign relying on canvassing and get-out-the vote efforts by volunteers.

Thompson sees the election as a contest between two competing visions of government rather than particular issues.

Floyd agreed that he is Thompson’s polar opposite, but said that one issue in particular helped draw him into the race.

“The thing that really drew my attention to Ed Thompson other than his very right-wing, intolerant Republican ideology, is that he really stood in the way of grand jury reform,” Floyd said.

Thompson’s opposition failed to halt legislative approval of a bill to change the way grand jurors are picked. The bill was signed into law during the 2015 legislative session.

Key issues

Other issues for Floyd include fully funding public education, abortion rights, updates to public infrastructure, reversing what he called the militarization of police, and topto-bottom reform of Texas’ criminal justice system, including personal recognizance bonds for first-time offenders.

Thompson’s website lists border security, Second Amendment rights and job creation as his top issues.

Despite Thompson’s cash advantage, McLane said it could be a close race if Floyd can put his oratorical skills to use in a debate. Floyd said Sept. 19 that he was waiting for a reply from Thompson to a debate invitation. Thompson said, “I’m talking to voters every day in House District 29, but I’d be happy to consider any debate invitation from an objective organization.”

Even if Floyd can make a strong showing, his chances for victory remain slim, McLean said.

If he loses, Floyd said, he will be back in the next election to try again.