Republicans Eye Texas-Size Gains In HouseRaces

AUSTIN, Texas - (08/04/04) -- One of the quietest delegations atlast week's Democratic National Convention in Boston was the onefrom Texas, where Democrat's are expected to lose as many ashalf-dozen of their 16 House seats this fall, due to theRepublican-controlled redistricting. Buddy Gill, political directorfor the Texas CU League, said he expects the Republicans to pick upseats because of the carefully-planned redistricting, but someDemocratic incumbents could surprise the pundits by pulling outclose races. "There's going to be a net gain of Republican seatscoming out of Texas, I just don't know how many," Gill told TheCredit Union Journal. Among the most closely watched races in thecountry are 13-term Democratic incumbent Martin Frost againstfour-term Republican Pete Sessions, in a district heavily weightedto Republicans; and 13-term Democrat Charles Stenholm againstfreshman Republican Randy Neugebauer. Also facing long odds areDemocrats Chet Edwards, Max Sandlin and Nick Lampson. Thelikelihood the Republicans will pick up as many as six seats in theLone Star State makes it probable the GOP will retain control ofthe House in the next Congress.