Hoyer Aiding NRCC Chief's Opponent

By Greg Giroux | January 27, 2010 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Democrats are ramping up their campaign to unseat Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) will appear at a fundraising reception Thursday afternoon at the Dallas law firm of Grier Raggio, who will be the Democratic nominee in the 32nd district Sessions is defending.

Raggio will report raising more than $150,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009, after raising about $25,000 in the previous quarter. He and Sessions, who had more than $1 million in his campaign account as of last September, are required to file detailed finance reports to the Federal Election Commission by Jan. 31.

Raggio just hired a campaign manager, Michael Points, who worked for the American Postal Workers Union and prior to that for the successful 2006 House campaign of Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.).

Sessions was re-elected by nearly 17 percentage points in the 2008 election, defeating a little-known Democrat who spent $110,000 on his entire campaign. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took 53 percent of the district vote in the 2008 presidential balloting.

But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee thinks Sessions is vulnerable, in part because of the district's large Hispanic population. Democratic officials have made clear they will link Sessions to the indicted financier Allen Stanford. They have kept up a steady stream of criticism of Sessions as he prepares to run for re-election at the same time he is overseeing the national GOP campaign to win a majority of House seats.

The DCCC this month included the Texas 32 contest as one of nine "emerging races" among 26 "races to watch" this fall.

Sessions is opposed by David Smith, a financial analyst, in the March 2 Republican primary. Raggio is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

CQ Politics at the moment rates the Texas 32 race as Safe Republican, though ratings are subject to change. CQ Politics is watching this race for signs of competitiveness.

To follow the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map

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