John Whitmire, meet Damian LaCroix.
About six weeks ago, the Editorial Board published a list of Best/Worst Legislators. Of the six members gracing our “worst” list, only one was a Democrat: John Whitmire. We listed many reasons why Sen. Whitmire deserved such a designation, and closed with “this board finds that perhaps 32 years is enough for Sen. Whitmire.” It looks like someone is now trying to make that happen.
Recently, I came across the website of Damian LaCroix. More significantly, I found it by coming across a Facebook notification following Representative Harold Dutton “liking” of his page (though, to be fair, Dutton may like pages for reference rather than endorsement, as I do). LaCroix is an attorney now seeking to unseat John Whitmire, the Dean of the Senate, in the 2014 Democratic Primary.
A little bit of background on LaCroix will reveal he previously ran for Judge (County Civil Court at Law No. 2) in 2010, but lost horribly in the primary. Whitmire, for his part, ran unopposed in the primary elections of 2012, 2010, 2006, 2002 and 2000. His primary election histories before then are a little murkier, as the County Clerk does not have online records thereof and I was either not born or an infant at that time.
Reading over LaCroix’s website, I see no reference of the incumbent Senator. Instead, LaCroix simply lists broad priorities for the district reminiscent of an open seat. Like I have said countless times before, when a candidate runs against an incumbent in a primary or non-partisan election, she or he has a burden to prove why one should vote against the incumbent.
I wasn’t really paying attention to Judicial Races back in 2010, so I had never really heard much about LaCroix. Reading his biography, I am eager to know his political positions on a variety of issues. He went to A&M for undergraduate and SMU for Law School, so he did not attend especially liberal institutions of higher education. Very curious to know if he goes after Whitmire from the left or the right.