TX-10: In rematch, Siegel pushes progressive agenda, McCaul attacks

[RandySF]

“You know, Squad 2.0 coming in, Jamaal Bowman, maybe a couple of guys to join the ladies,” Siegel exulted in a July 13 online interview with Nomiki Konst, a popular progressive activist and commentator.

The Squad refers to four Democratic congresswomen of color — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — who were elected in 2018, pushing the left limits of the possible in Congress and, in a bold stroke of aesthetic and activist branding, becoming both beloved and hated, polarizing icons better known in their freshman term than almost any other members of the House save Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Bowman is a like-minded Democrat from New York City who in a June primary crushed 16-term Democratic incumbent Elliot Engel.

And Mike Siegel is a mild-mannered former Austin assistant city attorney — perhaps, in his persona, a little more secret identity than superhero compared with the others — who as a hardworking but underfunded and underestimated sleeper candidate in 2018 nearly caught Michael McCaul, a then seven-term Republican incumbent from Austin, then-chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, a semi-regular on the Sunday morning talk shows and among the wealthiest members of the House.

Drafting on Beto O’Rourke’s Senate bid, Siegel came within 4.3 points of McCaul in a district stretching from Lake Travis to the Houston suburbs that had returned McCaul to office by 19 points in 2016 and much more than that in previous runs.


https://www.statesman.com/news/20201011/in-rematch-siegel-pushes-progressive-agenda-mccaul-attacks

[TwilightZone]

1. I'm in that district. McCaul seems entrenched here.

It's a bit inexplicable because all he seems to ever do is grandstand.

The problem, of course, is gerrymandering. The district is one of the craziest in the country.

[ananda]

2. Me too.

This district is gerrmandered all the way to Katy,
where people are very lost politically.

I voted for Siegel, but the outlying areas elect McCaul.

[TwilightZone]

3. He came closer to beating McCaul than I thought he might last time.

Huge turnout could help, but I think it's still uphill. Along with hoping John Carter loses next door, it's high on my wish list.