District GOP Nominates DeLay for House Seat

Rep. Tom DeLay won his district’s GOP nomination to the House on Tuesday, beating three challengers in his first election since being indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader.

DeLay was receiving more than 60% of the vote, and his closest challenger, environmental lawyer Tom Campbell, was getting about 30%.

“I have always placed my faith in the voters, and today’s vote shows they have placed their full faith in me,” DeLay said in a statement.

DeLay, 58, was indicted last year and is awaiting trial on charges that he illegally funneled corporate donations to GOP candidates for the Texas House in 2002. The Republicans won a majority in the Legislature that year, and then pushed through a redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that sent more Republicans to Washington in 2004.

DeLay has also come under scrutiny over his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud in January and is cooperating in an investigation of influence-peddling on Capitol Hill.

In the other big Texas primary race, Houston Democrat Chris Bell won the right to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Perry, in a state where the GOP holds every statewide office.

Bell, a former member of the House of Representatives, prevailed over Bob Gammage, a former Texas Supreme Court justice who got into the race in December. Perry won his primary easily, collecting 85% of the vote against three little-known opponents.