When the dust settles from the remaining runoff elections, Republicans are likely to wind up with 228 House seats, only two fewer than they had after the 1994 election (six more were added later by Democratic defections). The latest addition: the much-maligned Steve Stockman of Texas, whose reputation as poster boy for the militias was, according to Beltway wisdom, going to doom him this year.
Stockman was heavily targeted by organized labor and failed to reach 50 percent on November 5 (he got 46 percent), which under Texas rules forces a runoff on December 10 in a district that was redrawn by court order earlier this year. But things have turned Stockman’s way. The Democrat who came in third on Election Day, Geraldine Sam, has endorsed Stockman, not his Democratic foe, Nick Lampson, who got 44 percent. “That makes an important difference,” insists congressman Bill Paxon, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Money makes an even bigger difference. ” We’ll spend whatever it takes,” says Paxon.
Court rulings last summer in effect nullified the $ 70,000 ceiling on what the committee can spend in a single congressional race. Thus, it spent $ 500, 000 to $ 600,000 in some races, such as the narrow reelection victory of Rep. J. D. Hayworth in Arizona. “We can do whatever we want to hold that seat,” says Paxon.
While labor pours in money to help Lampson, Paxon says Republicans will match every dime. Moreover, having held the House helps. Voters know the winning team, says Paxon, “so the question is: Do they want their representative to be on that team?” It looks like the answer may be yes.
