This is really good news. Things look like Texas might have a great representative in Senate. Let's hope that Rick Noriega makes it to Senate this year!
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Noriega ready to challenge Cornyn this fall
Candidate narrowly avoids runoff against Gene Kelly
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, March 06, 2008
HOUSTON — After narrowly avoiding a runoff in a crowded field of Democrats, State Rep. Rick Noriega said Wednesday he's ready to start trying to persuade Texans they need change in the Senate as well as the White House.
Noriega, a Texas Army National Guard officer who spent 14 months in Afghanistan, received about 51 percent of the vote with all but a few precincts reporting to move on to the general election campaign against Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.
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Rick Noriega
"It was a great day for Texas and we're very humbled and privileged that folks chose us as their Democratic nominee," Noriega said Wednesday.
Cornyn, who handily defeated consultant Larry Kilgore in the Republican primary, said he is "fully aware that this office must be earned in November."
Cornyn already has $7.6 million in the bank for the fall campaign.
Noriega, a five-term state lawmaker, raised $1 million but only had about half that in the bank as of mid-February. He spent more on television ads late in the race in an effort to avoid a runoff.
Perennial candidate Gene Kelly, who capitalized on his famous name to force a runoff in the 2006 Democratic primary for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat, garnered 27 percent of the vote on Tuesday.
Corpus Christi high school teacher Ray McMurrey got 12 percent of the vote. Rhett Smith, another perennial candidate, got 10 percent.
Noriega, who opposes the Iraq war, has said he would work to withdraw American troops but would not commit to a timetable.
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