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Homer wins again
By Mary Madewell
Published November 5, 2008
State Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris, edged out third time challenger Republican Kirby Hollingsworth of Mount Vernon Tuesday on the incumbent’s way to a sixth term in the Texas House of Representatives.
Homer won the District 3 race 26,694-24,910 with Lamar and Red River counties giving him the 1,784-vote victory. Hollingsworth won in Delta, Franklin and Hopkins counties.
Delta County voted 1,118 -1,039 for Hollingsworth; Franklin County, 2,540 - 1,900 for Hollingsworth and Hopkins County, 6,677 -5.992 for the challenger. Homer recovered with a 10,535-7,698 advantage in Lamar County and a 2,695-2,290 vote in Red River County.
Homer is in Austin today for a Democratic caucus following an election night that narrowed the Republican majority.
“Our main objective will be to end the divisive reign of Tom Craddick,” Homer said of the Republican Speaker of the House. “He has got to come off that dais and I’ll yell it from the mountain top.
“The caucus tomorrow will be an exchange of ideas and “how we can handle ourselves in the speaker’s race.”
The lawmaker made light of suggestions by some that he enter the speaker’s race, but Homer did not rule out the possibility. He said “the chips would need to fall just right.”
“I can’t say that I have never thought of that,” Homer said. “It certainly would be an honor to be Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and I think I could do a good job. But is takes somebody who can commit 100 percent of their time. I have a business to run and I have three young children.
“And obviously a wife that I would like to keep around,” Homer quipped. He did say that young children at the Capitol might “bring some normalcy, put special interests and backroom dealings on the back burner and bring some laughter back to the halls.”
About the District 3 race, Homer said “thank you” to voters and supporters.
“Everybody got out and worked hard and did what we needed to do to win,” he said.
The Democrat expressed regret that the race went negative.
“We would have loved to have been engaged in a race that stayed on message and that would have been about issues and ideals for the future of Texas, but it ended up in the ditch again,” Homer said. “My opponent and his supporters had a typical race of lies and deception, and I am sorry but that is exactly what it was.
“That is not how I ran my campaign,” Homer said. “I defended my policy and tried to stay on state policy for what we think is the right course for Texas.”
Homer said the closeness of the race shows negative campaigns work.
“Maybe we are too trusting of people,” Homer said. “Maybe whatever is written on a page or we hear on a radio spot or on a telephone we take as factual instead of going out and doing some research.”
Several calls to the Hollingsworth campaign went unanswered earlier today.
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