Chavez-Thompson Wins Texas Lt. Governor Primary
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Congratulations to AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson, who yesterday won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor of Texas. Chavez-Thompson won with 53 percent of the vote.
Chavez-Thompson prevailed despite a three-way race in which Austin, Texas, deli owner Marc Katz’s 10 percent of the vote made it all the more difficult to win the more than 50 percent of the voted needed to avoid a run-off election. As Ed Sills, Texas AFL-CIO communications director, has noted, former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle was a formidable opponent, and Chavez-Thompson’s win is a ”very impressive primary victory for any candidate, much less a first-time one.”
Chavez-Thompson will face incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in November.
“I’m humbled to have won the Democratic primary without a runoff,” Chavez-Thompson said in a statement.
On the other hand, our job is just beginning as we take our message to independent voters, frustrated voters, and working families.
Union Leaders Give Chavez-Thompson ‘Full Support’ in Texas Lt. Gov. Race
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Linda Chavez-Thompson, AFL-CIO executive vice president emerita, and candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Texas, “is a tireless advocate for civil, human, women’s and worker rights,” says the AFL-CIO Executive Committee in a statement expressing its full support for her run.
Meeting yesterday in Washington, D.C., union leaders praised Chavez-Thompson as
one of America’s most revered and respected labor leaders….A little over two years after retiring from the AFL-CIO, she has decided to take her four decades of experience to another level to help working families in the state of Texas.
In the March 2 primary, she is running against Democratic candidates Ronnie Earle, a former county district attorney, and Austin delicatessen owner Marc Katz.
Chavez-Thompson Running for Lt. Gov. of Texas
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Big shout out to AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson who yesterday announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor of Texas, her home state.
The “Draft Linda” movement swept through Texas, pulling our much-admired former executive vice president out of semi-retirement and onto the Democratic Party slate for state leadership. The first hurdle is the March 2 primary, where she will run against Democratic candidates Ronnie Earle, a former county district attorney, and Austin delicatessen owner Marc Katz.
Ed Sills, communications director of the Texas AFL-CIO, says at her campaign launch, Chavez-Thompson’s campaign made it clear she is running to make changes in Texas, not against the Democratic opponents:
Chavez-Thompson discussed her journey from the cotton fields of West Texas to national office in the labor movement and how the hard work and leadership skills that drove her will translate to a state leadership role. She spoke of the need to emphasize education, health care and other basic priorities.
