Former astronaut Terry Virts switches from Senate race to Democratic primary for congressional seat

From Houston Public Media:

A former U.S. Senate candidate said he now wants to run as a Democrat for the Houston area’s redrawn 9th Congressional District. Col. Terry Virts announced his candidacy as he withdrew from the race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn.

This past summer, Republicans in the Texas Legislature redrew the 9^th with the aim of ousting incumbent Democratic Congressman Al Green. Green has said he will be on the ballot next year, but that he will not run in the 9^th District.

Virts enters a field that already includes two Democrats, one independent, and several Republican candidates — including state Rep. Briscoe Cain, whose district overlaps the 9^th, and former unsuccessful Harris County Judge candidate Alexandra del Moral Mealer.

“District 9 is going to be an interesting race to watch because of all of these variables, and although it may have been drawn as a safe Republican district, I don’t think it is as safe as maybe the original mapmakers had hoped it would be,” said Renée Cross is executive director at the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs.

Virts originally entered the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate in June, but he was unable to gain traction in the polls against former congressman and former U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred. The entry into the Senate race by state. Rep. James Talarico worked against him as well.

“I think [Virts] certainly has a much better chance at winning a seat such as Congressional District 9,” Cross said. “We’re looking at a district of less than 800,000 people, versus a statewide campaign, which is incredibly cost-prohibitive.”

Cain and Mealer have largely dominated the contest to date. But Cross said she doesn’t think either will be able to pigeonhole Virts with 9^th District voters in the way they might a more progressive Democrat. Virts is a retired NASA astronaut and a decorated Air Force fighter pilot.

“I do think that it will be very difficult to paint Colonel Virts as a communist or even as a Democratic socialist,” Cross said. “He’s already talking about affordability and working-class issues, which will resonate extremely well in that district the way it’s drawn now, between east Harris County and Liberty County. That more populist approach, I think, will attract some attention and perhaps even attract some of those old-time Reagan Democrats back to the Democratic Party.”

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