By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter.
Dallas, TX – Sam Baker, KERA 90.1 Morning Edition host: Thanks to the state's population growth over the last decade, Texas has gained two new seats in Congress. One of them is District 32, within Dallas County, covering major parts of north and west suburban regions that tend to be Republican. The upcoming primary includes a pair of Democrats for the seat, and two Republicans, including a sitting Congressman who decided to switch districts. 90.1's Bill Zeeble reports.
Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: A new district usually means new political faces. But Congressman Pete Sessions is as close to an incumbent as there is. He's the three-term representative of the sprawling 5th district, covering parts of Dallas and ten other counties, mostly north, south and east of Dallas. But if he wins in the 32nd, where his children go to school, Sessions says he'll have a chance to get more involved in Dallas County politics.
Pete Sessions, District 32 Republican primary candidate: I've been a partial player for many years. This'll make me more of a player. This will make me obviously the head of the ticket here, head of the party, it's assumed. More people know me. I'll work hard just like I've worked in the other eleven counties before this.
Zeeble: District 32 is overwhelmingly Republican compared to the 5th , even though Sessions won repeatedly there, campaigning to reduce taxes and extend tort reform, among other things. Yet he complains about one aspect of running in the 5th district: competition.
Sessions: In the 5th district, every time I ran, I got run against every couple of years.
Zeeble: If he wins in the 32nd, Sessions might not only run unopposed in the future, he says he'd have more time to work on issues instead of campaigning and raising money. He also says serving in the 32nd would be easier on his family because in the vast 5th District, he had to drive for hours and hours of driving to see constituents, keeping him away from home.
Pete Sessions, District 32 Republican primary candidate: I made one of my son's football games last year. And when my sons are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, I can handle that. Not when they're 8 and 12 years old.
Zeeble: Pete Sessions's opponent in the Republican primary is Danny Davis. He's a salesman for security company Monitronics, and served with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in Germany and the Gulf War. He says he respects his opponent's family concerns, but adds that if serving the 5th District has been as fabulous as the Congressman's described it, he shouldn't abandon it. Davis thinks Sessions is selfish and disrespectful of voters in the 5th Congressional District.
Danny Davis, Republican primary candidate, District 32: A Congressman is supposed to be a servant of the people, someone with the interests of the people ahead of the interest of self. When you make a public statement that the reason I'm moving over is gosh, I sometimes have to make three-hour drives to get throughout the 5th, and the 32nd is more compact, so I'll leave the people who voted me in Congress and come over where it's easier.
Zeeble: Davis also says the move could hurt the Republican Party. Because before Sessions, the 5th was held by a Democrat, John Bryant. Sessions, for his part, questions Mr. Davis's Republican credentials and party loyalty.
Sessions: I've never known him as a Republican and don't believe he is a Republican. I don't know if Danny Davis has ever voted in his life. In looking at his record, we've never seen where he's voted in the last 10 years. If you go vote, you can complain. But if you don't take the time to vote, then all you're doing is bellyaching.
Zeeble: Davis says he didn't vote because he was overseas, on active duty. Even though soldiers can vote in elections by absentee ballot, Davis says as recently as the last presidential election, he was out of the country, concentrating more on his immediate military duties than on the election. Though he regrets not voting, Davis says his background as Kay Bailey Hutchison's foreign affairs and defense aide, and his military service, are reasons voters should elect him now.
Davis: We're at war. Our world has changed. Now, more than ever, our country needs men and women who understand defense and foreign affairs. I have direct experience in things the nation needs most today.
Zeeble: During the campaign, Davis has also highlighted his commitment to what he calls his Christian values.
Davis: I was going through Coppell and someone said he was Jewish and I lost his vote. But it's values, not religion per se. What are Christian values? Hard work, integrity, and honesty. Christian values are what this country was built on. A great military and economic strength are built on them.
Zeeble: On the Democratic side, the two primary candidates show their traditional party values, emphasizing social security, health care and minority issues, mixed with fiscal conservatism. Both candidates are from Dallas, though neither have run for Congress before. But retired Dallas schoolteacher Pauline Dixon says she's not a political novice.
Pauline Dixon, Democratic primary candidate, Congressional District 32: I'm not just starting out with this. I've been involved with politics all my adult life. I've just come back from representing teachers on a national level.
Zeeble: Dixon says she did that as a Texas delegate to the National Education Association. A former Dallas "Teacher of the Year," the candidate has also filled a number of elected positions in education organizations. She adds she's also been involved in grassroots politics as a precinct judge and in the campaigns of several elected state officials. Like Democrats she admires, Dixon says she's in this for the little people.
Dixon: I've been an advocate for people, of the other race, the human race, all my life. Especially when I was teaching. I've always wanted to help people and work for the good of mankind. I want to be the voice of the people.
Zeeble: Dixon says those people include parents with children who need better schools, and minority residents who need more and better jobs in some of the county's hardest-hit communities. She says she's also running to safeguard the Social Security fund which she says has already been raided by Congress, because of September 11th.
Dixon: I'm very worried about it. There are other funds we can go into, take from, other than Social Security. I'm not familiar with all the funds. I have to learn, I'm willing to learn and research.
Zeeble: Dixon's opponent, attorney Walter Hofheinz, also worries about the effects of September 11th on the country's budget and priorities. He agrees retaliation's an important reaction. But he's worried about an overreaction that may have already violated the civil liberties of those of Arab decent, or might prompt Congress to throw money at a problem money can't fix.
Walter Hofheinz, Democrat primary candidate, District 32: With respect to September 11th, there hadn't been a hijacking in the U.S. since 1991until September 11th. Having decorative National Guard troops at airports and waiting for the first accidental shooting make no sense to me when there's never been at attack on an American airport. The notion we need to revise the screening system makes no sense. The folks who attacked on September 11th were successful 'cause they bought tickets and walked onto the airplane.
Zeeble: Hofheinz fears too much federal money's been diverted to wealthy, corporate players who control the Congressional agenda. Players like Enron. Hofheinz would redirect some of what's called corporate welfare to the 22 million Americans still without health insurance. He wants the government to issue everyone a health card, so they can see the doctor of their choice, and be covered.
Hofheinz: We save an enormous amount in administrative overhead that way. And at the same time, we've got to face the fact that we can't spend 50% of our gross national product on health care. That's the direction we're going. Not in the next two to three years, but if the trend continues we'll go broke trying to keep everyone well.
Zeeble: Hofheinz also calls himself a fiscal conservative. He accuses Republicans of borrowing and spending money the country doesn't have, then claiming they're for a balanced budget.
Hofheinz: I believe it's necessary to live within your means and decide what you're going to spend on that basis.
Zeeble: Both Democrats say they can win, even though nearly every political observer predicts the new 32nd District will elect a Republican. Dixon says when people hear her representing their concerns, she'll earn their vote. Hofheinz says speaking the truth about tough, financial and social issues will help him win. He's counting on his 23 years of law experience, 7 years as a teacher of law at Texas Wesleyan University, software background, and experience, and as a single father. The primary is March 12th. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.