DeLay to remain on November ballot

It seems that Tom DeLay outsmarted himself when he ran in the Republican primary for his Congressional seat, then tried to duck out and get the Texas Republican Party to replace him on the ballot with someone else who he approved of. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks announced today that DeLay must remain on the ballot for the November 7th election.

The Austin-American Statesman (Free signup required) has this as breaking news this morning.

"The Texas Democratic Party sued to keep the indicted Sugar Land Republican on the ballot because party officials believed that their candidate Nick Lampson could more easily defeat DeLay instead of a GOP replacement.

Sparks' order prevents state Republican Chairwoman Tina Benkiser from completing the process of naming a DeLay successor. Although the Republican Party is expected to appeal, Sparks' order keeps the campaigns of possible GOP candidates for congressional District 22 in limbo.

Under state law, a political party cannot replace a nominee who resigns in mid-election. But Benkiser said she could replace DeLay because he had become ineligible to represent the GOP on the ballot when he moved to the Virginia condo he has owned for the past 12 years.

DeLay testified that he planned to live indefinitely in Virginia and had rented an office in Washington, D.C. The court also was presented documents showing DeLay has registered to vote in Virginia and had filed state tax documents.

Lawyers for the Democratic Party, however, argued that DeLay's move was just a ploy to circumvent the state election law. They noted that DeLay testified his wife was still living at their Sugar Land residence and that they subpoenaed him for his court appearance at that house.

The U.S. Constitution says a candidate for the U.S. House of representatives must be 25 years old, an American citizen and an inhabitant of the state 'when elected.'"

Note also that Article I Section 4 of the Constitution gives the States the power to determine "The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives...." so it is unlikely that the appeal will overturn the Texas law which does not permit a political party to replace a weak candidate with a stronger one after the weak candidate won the party primary.

The Republicans will appeal this decision, of course, but they have no strong candidate to appoint anyway. In addition, there are only four months remaining for the appeal to be decided and, if it allowed the Republicans to appoint a new candidate, for that candidate to campaign for office. Even in the strong Republican district that Tom DeLay has left, this is an almost insurmountable barrier to electing a new Republican candidate.

Considering the Republican US Supreme Court recently upheld most of the Tom DeLay instigated mid-term redistricting last week (except for Congressional District 23) there is more than a little poetic justice in this decision.

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See prior post on this subject Judge thinks Tom DeLay withdrew from election.