Some (Texas) GOP farmers support Democrat with ag experience

[UpInArms]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/9122239.htm?1c

LUBBOCK, Texas - Cotton farmer Don Langston has voted Republican for more than three decades, but this year his livelihood will steer his congressional vote.

Langston is among a handful of West Texas Republicans who say they will cross party lines and vote in November for Democratic Rep. Charlie Stenholm of Abilene, the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee.

"If we lose Charlie, we've lost all our presence on the ag committee," said Langston, 64, who farms 1,300 acres in Lubbock and Lamb counties. "The farm economy is the only thing that keeps us going out here."

Texas' agricultural industry is the nation's second-largest behind California, and West Texas is particularly agricultural.

Stenholm, a farmer, had represented District 17 since 1979 and faces Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer in the newly drawn GOP-leaning District 19. The Republican redrawing of Texas' congressional map last year shifted Stenholm into the new district, which stretches from the New Mexico border to just west of Tarrant County.

...more...

The dilemmas that Delay's redistricting has caused.