May 26, 2007

Mowery Says She Won't Be on Ballot
for Re-Election to Texas House in 2008

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

State Rep. Anna Mowery confirmed Friday night that she won't be a candidate for re-election in 2008. The Fort Worth Republican is the first House member to acknowledge plans to retire from the lower chamber after next year's elections.

Mowery told Capitol Inside that she is confident that the GOP will hang on to the House District 97 seat after she heads for the exit. The 76-year-old lawmaker was initially elected to the House in a special election in 1988. Only eight current House members have more seniority than Mowery.

Mowery's departure will create a vacancy for the job of House Land & Resource Management Committee chair - a position that she's held since Republicans took control of the lower chamber in 2003. Mowery was a member of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee for five consecutive regular sessions when Democrats had a majority in the lower chamber before her appointment to the current chairmanship.

There's been a considerable amount of unsubstantiated speculation that several other House veterans might not be back for the 2009 regular session including some of the Republican lawmakers who have filed to be candidates for the top House leadership post if a move to oust Speaker Tom Craddick was successful before the regular session ends Monday at midnight. Five House Republicans have entered the competition for speaker if a race for the post materializes before the curtain closes on the session.

The House experienced a significant turnover during the 2006 elections when a dozen members did not seek new terms in the lower chamber and seven more representatives failed to win re-election. Other House members who don't expect to be back in 2009 could be planning to announce plans to forego re-election next year after the session ends next week.

Mowery defied speculation during the regular session two years ago that she wouldn't be on the ballot again in 2006. After winning 61 percent of the Republican primary vote against Fort Worth attorney Robert Higgins, Mowery claimed 56 percent of the vote against another lawyer, Democrat Dan Barrett, in the general election.

Democrats see HD 97 as a district within striking distance, even though Republicans at the top of the ticket picked up more than 61 percent of the vote there last year.

While Mowery has compiled a relatively moderate voting record by Republican standards in the past few years, she's been a one of Craddick's supporters during this year's leadership struggle that led to a move by moderate Republicans and Democrat to oust the incumbent speaker last night and in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Craddick refused to allow a vote to vacate the chair when he would not recognize any of his foes for a resolution that would have forced a vote.