Posted by Emily Ramshaw of the Texas Tribune posts an excellent story about Eric Johnson’s prospects in his Texas House now that Rep. Terri Hodge has suspended her campaign. Here are a few excepts from Emily’s article. You can read here entire post Heir Apparent at the Texas Tribune website.
- When State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, bowed out of her reelection bid on Wednesday to plead guilty to lying on a tax return, she handed what should be an easy victory to her opponent, Eric Johnson. It’s a good thing for Johnson, a neighborhood boy turned Ivy League attorney: He faced an uphill battle to defeat her.
- In many state House districts, Johnson, an education-obsessed up-and-comer with a passion for improving inner city schools, would’ve had the race in the bag. His opponent was under indictment in a citywide corruption scandal, one in which other Dallas officials had already been convicted.
- But Hodge, 69, has a long and intimate history with the district and the aging residents who remember her days as an aggressive labor union and election precinct organizer. Her single biggest legislative priority, improving conditions for Texas prison inmates, made her a personal savior to grieving mothers and grandmothers across her low-income, majority-minority district — who may well see the irony now.
- For Hodge, who spent the last two years espousing her innocence, the pressure finally became too great. On Wednesday, four days after a heated political debate with Johnson, she reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to confess to lying on a tax return, to resign her seat, and to never seek public office again.
- At the same time, he must race against the clock to educate voters of Hodge’s fate, so they show up to the polls to vote for him, and don’t mistakenly vote for her. “I think if we were a week out, it would be real cause for concern,” said Shawn Williams, a political observer and editor of the Dallas South News. “But it’s not the time for Johnson to sit back and rest. He still needs people to get out to the polls, to participate in the process.”
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