On Thursday morning, Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards announced a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Cornyn, joining what is already shaping up to be an increasingly crowded field of Democrat primary candidates.
Edwards, a Harvard-educated attorney who previously worked for U.S. Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee and clerked for a federal district judge, made the announcement via video released on Twitter.
This race is about all the people who've ever been locked out, told they can’t, or to wait their turn because the status quo wasn’t ready for change. Join the team at https://t.co/CT7W1NJQvB. pic.twitter.com/XjQp09nsJg
— Amanda Edwards (@AmandaForTexas) July 18, 2019
“This is not about politics. This is about people and what matters most to us,” Edwards said as she announced her political campaign.
Following Edwards’ entrance into the race, the Cornyn campaign commented on the Democrats’ crowded field.
“Councilwoman Edwards is a true progressive with a record that would make Elizabeth Warren jealous,” campaign manager John Jackson said. “We look forward to seeing which two liberals make the inevitable runoff.”
Air Force veteran and unsuccessful congressional candidate MJ Hegar was the first candidate to announce in the race, doing so three months ago in mid-April. Since then, she’s raised roughly $1 million and has about $600,000 cash on hand.
That number was too small to ward off additional entrants such as Edwards. And former Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell announced he would also enter the race earlier this week.
Additionally, Democrats also expect State Sen. Royce West (Dallas) to launch a campaign of his own next week—an action that would grow the field to six candidates in total.
Edwards had stockpiled nearly $200,000 in her war chest for re-election. While she can’t use that money in a senatorial campaign, she can remit unspent funds to donors and ask them to donate again.
As the Cornyn campaign notes, Edwards’ entrance to the crowded primary field likely ensures that Democrats will have a runoff election to decide their candidate. Meanwhile, Republicans have thus far refrained from challenging Cornyn in the GOP primary.
That said, there is a lot of time between now and the March 3 primary election—and even more before the November 3 general election.
