State Senator Kel Seliger's former opponent for the Republican nomination for State Senate, District 31 has published a letter praising the Senator's performance in Austin.
D. Kirk Edwards, an Odessa oil and gas businessman, published a letter this week with the Midland Reporter-Telegram, praising Kel Seliger's performance in Austin and asked Midland voters to "don’t spoil the Midland-Odessa relationship again." In the letter, Edwards criticized Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Empower Texas and praised Senator Kel Seliger, Representative Tom Craddick and Representative Brooks Landgraf for a "stellar job."
"I hope many of you can see through what will surely be a huge negative blitz against these men in the coming months by the very rich Midland money folks and their paid for hit piece organizations called Empower Texans and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility," Edwards wrote in the letter. "You can be assured that any candidate those two groups back will be beholden to them and their increasingly negative and demeaning way of politicking."
Edwards was an opponent of Seliger's in 2004, when Seliger was seeking his first term in the State Senate. Edwards received 33 percent versus Seliger's 61 percent. Bob Barnes, Lee Gibson, Don Sparks and Jesse Quackenbush split the remaining percentages. Seliger went on to defeat Democratic nominee Elaine King Miller in the general election, 79 percent to 21 percent.
Seliger is facing Midland attorney Mike Canon and Amarillo restaurateur Victor Leal for the Republican nomination for district 31. In 2014, Canon and Seliger faced off with Seliger narrowly defeating Canon, 52 percent to 48 percent.
It is not yet clear whether the two groups cited in Edwards' letter, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Empower Texans, plan to support any candidates in the races for district 31 this year.
The Republican primary election for district 31 is scheduled for March of 2016.
