Ex-Bentsen Aide Wins Wright’s Seat
Democrat Pete Geren, a former Senate aide, narrowly won a special election Tuesday for the seat given up by ex-House Speaker Jim Wright, toppled by an ethics investigation after 34 years in office.
With all precincts reporting, Geren had 40,210 votes, or 51%, to 38,590, or 49%, for Republican Dr. Bob Lanier, a television medical commentator.
Geren, a 37-year-old former aide to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, will serve the remainder of Wright’s term, which expires next year.
Republicans had seen the election as a chance to capture the 12th District, a longtime Democratic stronghold covering most of Ft. Worth and Tarrant County.
But Lanier, in his first campaign for public office, had acknowledged that his race was an “upstream swim” because the district is heavily Democratic and because Geren raised nearly twice as much money.
Lanier, 44, a pediatric allergist and immunologist, is featured on a television segment syndicated to local news broadcasts in more than 40 television markets.
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