The situation in the 4th Texas district

President Trump’s nomination of former Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe (R-Heath/ Rockwall) as Director of US Intelligence has led to a 4th Congressional District Republican Party convention gathering in early August to choose a replacement general election nominee.

The convention winner advances into the general election and then will take the seat in the next Congress. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has already announced that he will not call a special election to fill the balance of the current term.

The district convention, scheduled for August 8th as previously reported, will only feature 158 voting precinct chairs from throughout the district’s 16 whole and two partial counties. Candidates will be nominated at the convention, so there is no filing period. Therefore, various individuals announcing their candidacies carries no particular significance other than to inform the precinct chairmen they want to be considered for nomination. Additionally, the 158-voting number is set because a quirk in the party rules won’t allow the many vacant precinct slots to be filled prior to the vote.

Apparently, Democrats are weighing the option of filing a lawsuit to declare the convention process unconstitutional under US law or the state of Texas. Doing so, and if successful, could mean the Republican Party would have no avenue of replacing Mr. Ratcliffe for the general election, meaning Democratic nominee Russell Foster, chosen in the March 3rd regular primary election vote, would face only Libertarian Party candidate Lou Antonelli in what is a 75% Trump district. Much remains to occur here before we see who emerges as Mr. Ratcliffe’s successor.

Originally published by eBay Main Street on May 29, 2020.

Libertarians field viable candidate for District 4 seat

With the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on May 21, multiple candidates are stepping forward to run for the open Congressional seat.

The Libertarian Party is proud to announce its nominee for District 4 is Lou Antonelli of Clarksville in Red River County, a small business owner with a long record of public service and community involvement. Antonelli pledges to run a full-fledged active campaign.

Antonelli says his goal running as a third party candidate is to inject original ideas into the discussion, and push for the Libertarian Party to become the second party in the district, displacing the Democrats.

“Can you imagine how much better our political system would be if the two major parties were the Republicans and Libertarians, instead of the Republicans and Democrats?” asked Antonelli. “Libertarians are the loyal opposition, as opposed to the Democrats, who are the disloyal opposition.”

Antonelli said Libertarians stand for hacking away strangling bureaucracy at all levels of government, and returning as much authority as possible to individuals. “Thanks to the COVID pandemic, we have all gotten a free trial of Socialism,” he said. “How do you like it?”

Lou and his wife Patricia own The Clarksville Times, founded in 1873, the oldest business in Red River County. He is the managing editor, and has been a community journalist for 40 years.

He has served in the past as an elected school trustee, a library trustee, an animal shelter board member, and a condemnation court judge. He is presently the President of the Clarksville Lions Club.

His cell phone number is 903-257-6573 and anyone is welcome to call him any time. His office number at The Clarksville Times in 903-427-0002, or you can email him at theclarksvilletimes@gmail.com