Texas Cong Dist 25 heats up

The Republican primary runoff for the gerrymandered, Hill Country-based U.S. Congressional District 25 in Texas is heating up.


In the one corner, we have GOP establishmentarian, one-time Texas Secretary of State (and rumored one-time "friend" of Rick Perry's — ah, weren't those the days, eh?) Roger Williams.


In the other corner is Tea Party favorite Wes Riddle.

(Update, July 31, 8:40 p.m. — And it dies back down. Whether my wondering about Democratic crossovers for Williams was true or not, he's off to a comfortable lead and should have this race in the bag.) 


The  biggest claim against Williams is that he's lying about opposing the auto bailout. Given that his wife, president of his group of auto dealerships, personally lobbied for it, this is a clear lie in spirit, at least.


Riddle? The biggest claim against him is that he's lying about being a resident of the district. The truth is he appears to be outside it, but not way outside of it. Stand by for a "clarification."


Now, given that this is a largely rural district, the fun is that this is about as clear of a taste as we will get about relative strength of Tea Party vs. Texas GOP establishment. I wouldn't be surprised to see Riddle win this.

Riddle is helped by coming off as "relatively sane" for a tea partier, and by that "West Point instructor" portion of his resume.

A few hours from now, we'll see if he does it.

I'm also curious, since early voting was fairly heavy, if some Democrats aren't crossing over to vote for Williams.