The Amarillo Globe News had some very depressing, but not unexpected news yesterday. The quartet of Republican state legislators representing the Panhandle announced Monday that they will all seek re-election. They said they want to continue working as a team for the Texas Panhandle.
For those of you unfamiliar with this area of Texas, they are Senator Kel Seliger (Amarillo) who is pictured above, Rep. Warren Chisum (Pampa), Rep. David Swinford (Dumas) and Rep. John Smithee (Amarillo). They are all Republicans and all right-wing nuts.
The sad part is that the Panhandle is one of the reddest areas of Texas, and all four of them stand an excellent chance of being re-elected. Although I will not vote for any of them and will work as hard as I can to see them defeated, I almost feel like I need to apologize to the rest of Texas for my current home's voting patterns.
The caliber of representation from the Panhandle is downright embarrassing. I just moved up here 9 months ago, having lived the last twenty years in the DFW metroplex. In the metroplex, you might be represented by a Republican, but at least there was a good Democrat within shouting distance. Up here, there's not even a Democratic representative within driving distance -- even a very long drive.
Don't get me wrong. There are some good progressive Democrats living here, and I have met many of them (such as the good folks at Panhandle Truth Squad). There just aren't nearly enough of us.
Oh well -- enough complaining. Time to get busy and see if we can do the impossible and elect some Democrats.
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