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After close race, McCaul wins District 10 seat
  
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By ANNA SCHUMANN
U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul declared victory at around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4. after 53 percent of precincts had reported final numbers.
After a long race with narrowing margins, the incumbent Republican McCaul defeated Democratic candidate Larry Joe Doherty and Libertarian candidate Matt Finkel.
As of 11:46 p.m. Tuesday, with 83.4 percent of precincts reporting, McCaul had 52.84 percent of the 301,490 total votes; Doherty had 44.15 percent of the votes and Finkel had 2.99 percent of the votes.
The tenth congressional district spans the US 290 corridor from parts of Houston to parts of Austin and includes Tomball, Cypress, Spring, Katy and Waller.
McCaul, who was first elected to office in 2004, served on the Homeland Security Committee as ranking member of the subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science and Technology, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Ethics Committee. In his last term, he also served as an assistant whip for the Republican party.
Doherty, a malpractice attorney, endowed an Ethics Chair with his wife at the University of Houston School of Law. Doherty is past president of Washington County Wildlife Society and a member of Texas Wildlife Society. Doherty announced his candidacy in April, 2007.
McCaul said he is pleased his constituents sent him back to office and rewarded what he calls a positive campaign.
Of Doherty’s campaign, McCaul said he found it negative and said he believes it’s exactly what voters are sick of and proven in the polls.
Jon Niven, spokesperson for Doherty’s campaign, said rather than running a negative campaign, Doherty ran an “educational” campaign that strove to show McCaul’s Congressional record and that it’s “not beneficial to the people of the tenth district.”
McCaul, who was losing his voice after a long day and night, said he was concerned at times about the race, which began with him behind Doherty and at times was as close as five percentage points apart.
Niven said he believes Doherty ran a great campaign with great staff and simply came up short.
He is extremely proud of what Doherty was able to accomplish, however, Niven said.
“We put this race and this seat on the national map and showed it doesn’t have to be a red seat every year,” he said. “Larry Joe Doherty had a message to get out and he did. And the fact that the race was this close when last time McCaul won by 15 percent shows the district is moving in a new direction.”
Trying to bridge the divide between the Democrats and Republicans in Congress will be one of the first things he’ll work toward when Congress reconvenes, he said.
“We’ll be in the minority and we will work for a strong bipartisan relationship,” he said.
Congress is to reconvene Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009.
After a long race with narrowing margins, the incumbent Republican McCaul defeated Democratic candidate Larry Joe Doherty and Libertarian candidate Matt Finkel.
As of 11:46 p.m. Tuesday, with 83.4 percent of precincts reporting, McCaul had 52.84 percent of the 301,490 total votes; Doherty had 44.15 percent of the votes and Finkel had 2.99 percent of the votes.
The tenth congressional district spans the US 290 corridor from parts of Houston to parts of Austin and includes Tomball, Cypress, Spring, Katy and Waller.
McCaul, who was first elected to office in 2004, served on the Homeland Security Committee as ranking member of the subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science and Technology, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Ethics Committee. In his last term, he also served as an assistant whip for the Republican party.
Doherty, a malpractice attorney, endowed an Ethics Chair with his wife at the University of Houston School of Law. Doherty is past president of Washington County Wildlife Society and a member of Texas Wildlife Society. Doherty announced his candidacy in April, 2007.
McCaul said he is pleased his constituents sent him back to office and rewarded what he calls a positive campaign.
Of Doherty’s campaign, McCaul said he found it negative and said he believes it’s exactly what voters are sick of and proven in the polls.
Jon Niven, spokesperson for Doherty’s campaign, said rather than running a negative campaign, Doherty ran an “educational” campaign that strove to show McCaul’s Congressional record and that it’s “not beneficial to the people of the tenth district.”
McCaul, who was losing his voice after a long day and night, said he was concerned at times about the race, which began with him behind Doherty and at times was as close as five percentage points apart.
Niven said he believes Doherty ran a great campaign with great staff and simply came up short.
He is extremely proud of what Doherty was able to accomplish, however, Niven said.
“We put this race and this seat on the national map and showed it doesn’t have to be a red seat every year,” he said. “Larry Joe Doherty had a message to get out and he did. And the fact that the race was this close when last time McCaul won by 15 percent shows the district is moving in a new direction.”
Trying to bridge the divide between the Democrats and Republicans in Congress will be one of the first things he’ll work toward when Congress reconvenes, he said.
“We’ll be in the minority and we will work for a strong bipartisan relationship,” he said.
Congress is to reconvene Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009.
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