TX-HD-33: Luna Resigns

Democratic state Rep. Vilma Luna is resigning, effective July 31. The folks at Burnt Orange Report have me utterly confused as to how exactly she will be replaced. As far as I can tell though, it looks like Republicans now have a way to turn what had been a safe seat into a race, though Democrats should still have the advantage. I think each party's county committee (Nueces County) picks a nominee, and both will appear on the ballot. Personally, I don't think I care much for that method, but there it is.

Meanwhile, there appears to be no shortage of Democrats seeking to replace Luna in November, including Solomon Ortiz, Jr., Danny Noyola, and Gloria Perez. It will be interesting to see who the county committee picks.

If this does in fact become a race, then based on the Dewhurst/Sharp race of 2002, in which the district went 59% for Sharp and 41% for Dewhurst, I'll change this race from "Safe Democratic" to "Leans Democratic". I suppose I'll wait for a little while to make the rating change official though, just in case I'm missing something. Which is probably the case.

UPDATE: Here are a few other numbers from the state legislature's district reports for TX-HD-33, which contains roughly half of Corpus Christi by population:

Racial Composition (2000 Census): 33.3% Anglo, 5% Black, 59.5% Hispanic, 2.2% Other

2004 Elections:
Bush/Cheney (R) 54.1%
Kerry/Edwards (D) 45.9%

Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D) 67.1%
William Vaden (R) 32.9%