Mike Krusee, the Republican state representative from Round Rock says he won't seek reelection next year. Krusee, who's 48, is chairman of the House Transportation Committee and has been in office since 1993.
"I will be leaving elective office, but I intend to stay active in the issues I care about, transportation and New Urbanism, both here in Texas and nationwide," Krusee said in
a press release announcing his decision not to run.
He's an advocate of increased funding for highways and a supporter of toll roads as one way to pay for new and improved transportation. That's made him a target of opponents of those roads and of the Trans Texas Corridor, but allied him with Gov.
Rick Perry and other advocates of TTC and highway overhauls.
"I am proud that Texas has taken bold, visionary steps toward our looming infrastructure problems... time will show that we were right to take bold steps on transportation policy," he said.
Krusee had a hard race last year and opponents began seriously looking at his HD-52 seat last summer. He got just 50.4 percent of the vote in last year's general election, after winning 63.8 percent against a Republican challenger in the March primary. He's been unopposed just once in his eight successful campaigns. The 2006 result was the tightest since he unseated an incumbent Democrat in 1992 with 51.7 percent of the vote.
This year, Democrat
Diana Maldonado, a Round Rock ISD trustee and a state employee, announced her intention to run before Krusee got out and was planning a campaign based on his perceived weaknesses. This week brought the announcement of her endorsement by Annie's List, an Austin-based political action committee that gives to pro-choice Democratic women running for state office. She is, for the moment, unopposed.
Republicans say privately they'll have a better chance with a fresh face — that the results of the last election were about Krusee and not about Democratic growth in Williamson County. So far, though, they don't have a candidate.
Potential Republican candidates — being talked up by fellow Republicans in the district — include
Larry Gonzales, a House staffer long involved in Williamson County GOP politics; Round Rock Mayor
Nyle Maxwell, who recently announced he won't run for reelection next year;
Brian Daniel, a former Texas state director of USDA Rural Development; and former Round Rock City Councilman
Gary Coe. That's not to say they're likely, or that they're in — just that those are the names we're hearing in the wake of Krusee's announcement.
Krusee bridled under former House Speaker
Pete Laney and came into his leadership position by supporting
Tom Craddick's successful bid for that job in 2003. But by the end of the last legislative session, he was among those questioning Craddick's management of the House. While he never openly threw in with any challengers, he made
a personal privilege speech in the last days of the session calling on Craddick to loosen his grip on the reins.
After the session, there was talk that Craddick was offering support to potential Krusee challengers in the GOP. And Krusee was among six House members — each with adversarial relationships with Craddick — who joined in
a legal brief prepared for the Attorney General on the limits of a speaker's powers. Even with that, Craddick put his name on a Krusee reelection fundraiser earlier this year. That quelled talk of a feud, but didn't stop rumors about whether Krusee would run again.
That fundraising came after the latest mid-year reports. At the end of June, Krusee reported cash on hand of $321,505 in his political accounts.
Krusee is No. 9 on the list of folks who won't be back. Candidates start filing for office next week, but these names won't be among them, at least for their current spots:
•
Robby Cook III, D-Eagle Lake, HD-17, won't seek reelection.
•
Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, HD-55, won't seek reelection.
•
Fred Hill, R-Richardson, HD-112, won't seek reelection.
•
Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth, HD-97, resigned in August.
•
Rick Noriega, D-Houston, HD-145, running for U.S. Senate.
•
Mike O'Day, R-Pearland, HD-29, won't seek reelection.
•
Robert Puente, D-San Antonio, HD-117, won't seek reelection.
•
Robert Talton, HD-144, R-Pasadena, running for U.S. House.
Krusee's statement:
