Senate District 22 Voters Vote Twice Today: a Special Election for Brian Birdwell's Old Seat Sits Beside the General Election for the Next Term
Gov. Greg Abbott put the special election on the same Nov. 3 ballot. David Cook and Amy Martinez-Salas are the choices both times - once for a two-month finish to the term, once for the term that follows.
One Texas Senate seat appears on today's ballot twice. Voters in Senate District 22 - a 12-county district anchored by Waco and running from the southern fringe of Dallas-Fort Worth west to Cisco and south to Falls County - are deciding both a special election for the remainder of the current term and the general election for the next one, after Gov. Greg Abbott's Aug. 18 proclamation set the special election for Tuesday, Nov. 3, the governor's office said.
The seat has been empty since May. Brian Birdwell of Granbury, a five-term Republican who held the district for some 16 years, resigned in May - his legislative record closes his service on May 26 - to serve as a U.S. assistant secretary of defense, the Texas Tribune reported; he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on a 46-43 vote on May 18. Under Texas law the vacancy is filled by special election rather than appointment, and the special-election winner serves only the rest of the term, through Jan. 11 - which is why the district votes again, on the same ballot, for the full term that follows.
The same two names greet voters in both races. State Rep. David Cook, a Mansfield Republican who won the GOP nomination for the seat decisively in March, faces Amy Martinez-Salas of Arlington, a Democrat and first-time candidate, The Waco Bridge and KWBU reported. Early voting for the special election began Oct. 19 alongside the general early vote, and polls across the district are open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
