Primary Outlook: Tossup
General Election Outlook: Tossup-Lean Democratic
One of the places that left Democrats shell-shocked in 2010
was Bexar County. Even in bad Democratic
years, like 2002 and 2004, Democrats could usually be counted on to hold their
own here…not so in 2010. As a result, HD
117 incumbent David Leibowitz (D) was swept out by a little over 1000 votes,
after previously winning election by 4200 votes (’06) and 7063 (’08 against
John Garza).
This seat has had an interesting history for its current
incarnation. In 2002, incumbent John
Longoria (D) decided not to run for re-election. That year Ken Mercer (R) defeated Raul Prado
(D). No doubt helped by the fact that
Prado was indicted just after early voting started. In 2004, David Leibowitz (D) is second
in a 3-way primary (first place went to Ken Mireles by 67 votes), wins the
runoff on a margin of 388 votes, and defeats Mercer by 527 votes. Mercer leaves
the Legislature and then goes on to run and win a seat on the State Board of
Education.
