Bush-Enthralled Houston Congressman Might be in Trouble

Democrat Michael Skelly, a Houston wind energy executive, is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman John Culberson in Texas’ 7th Congressional District, which is thought to have a 16 point Republican advantage.   Culberson won reelection in 2006 against Jim Henley (who ran a respectable but poorly funded campaign) 60%-39%. 

At the beginning of this year’s cycle, it seemed extraordinarily unlikely that a Democrat could ever compete here (and I say “here” because Janice and I live in the district). But Skelly has run a smooth, well-funded campaign.  He’s is on television so much that Culberson is now running negative ads attacking Skelly as a tax-and-spend liberal, a sign that he (Culberson) thinks he might be in trouble.

The last public poll was released on October 8th and shows a nine point Culberson lead, but the trend is unmistakable:

The DCCC has paid virtually no attention to this race, obviously believing it to be unwinnable. That it’s within single digits in October is astonishing and, whatever the outcome, a hopeful sign for previously moribund Texas and Houston Democrats.