By Jake Bernstein
Less than three months from Election Day, the big unanswered question in Texas politics is how big a wave will wash over Lone Star Republicans? Previously solid Republican districts, particularly in the suburbs, will be places to judge the high water mark, but it will take more than just an electorate hungry for change to win in these places. Democrats will need candidates well-positioned to ride the wave. Michael Skelly could be such a candidate.
Skelly is challenging Houston Republican Congressman John Culberson in a district once held by President Bush's father. It's been solidly Republican for years: In 2004, the district voted for President Bush by a margin of 18 points. But recently Democrats have been making inroads. The district stretches from the Texas Medical Center to parts of the far west side of Harris County. One of its state representatives is Ellen Cohen, a Democrat who unseated Republican Martha Wong in 2006. Cohen had two attributes that served her well in that race: She appealed to non-ideological Republicans with pragmatic policy prescriptions, and she was skilled at raising money. Skelly shares these characteristics.
Until recently Skelly was the chief development officer for Horizon Wind Energy, an alternative energy company bought last year by a European firm for about $2.2 billion. His work in energy made him wealthy. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and worked in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica.
The challenger says that self-financing his campaign is an option. Yet if his blistering fundraising pace continues, that may not be necessary. He surprised many political observers by raising more than $400,000 in the latest reporting period. At the end of June, Skelly reported more than $1 million in his campaign account. That's nearly double Culberson's $550,000 on hand.
Skelly trumpets his experience in the energy field. So many issues that face the country, from trade to the economy to the environment, come back to energy, he says. "I understand energy challenges inside and out," he says. "I understand the promise and limitations of various energy sources."
Culberson has already tried to brand Skelly as a wind subsidy-sucking utopian, but that approach may prove a hard sell. Skelly favors more drilling, and Culberson has not been shy about dishing out earmarks and subsidies. (Culberson did not respond to a request for an interview.)
For his part, Culberson hasn't made things easy on himself. In mid-July, he told an online forum that NASA, the space agency that employs 20,000 Houstonians, has "failed us miserably," and "wastes a vast amount of money." Moreover, Culberson has an ultraconservative record to defend. An avowed social conservative, he receives 100-percent voting scores from the National Right to Life Committee and voted against a 2007 bill banning job discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The challenger says that voters he meets have responded to his background. "People like that I'm a business guy, that I'm not in politics," he says. "We need to take a fresh look at who we are sending to Washington. People understand that partisan politics is not doing any of us much good."
With a big push from the wave, it may prove to be a winning message.
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