Former House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, unseated in his Dallas-area 32nd District last year, will formally announce for Congress on Thursday in the nearby 17th District vacated by fellow Republican and five-term Rep. Bill Flores.
For many reporters who have covered Sessions, 64, and a 22-year veteran of the House, this latest move of his is a surprise.
But supporters of Sessions quickly pointed out to Newsmax, before 2011, he represented six counties that redistricting has put into the 17th District.
The same supporters also noted the son of former FBI Director William S. Sessions was born and spent his grammar school years in Waco, a hub of the 17th District.
Wes Bailey, a prominent Waco businessman and major GOP fundraiser, was one of a group of Republicans who reportedly encouraged Sessions to make the move into the 17th.
"None of the state legislators or local office-holders who would have made natural candidates to succeed Bill Flores decided to make the race," said one Lone Star State Republican who is close to Sessions. "So, it is not as though Pete is 'carpetbagging' into the district. We went to him."
Even the issue of carpetbagging — moving to an area with the sole intention of seeking office — has not proved legal in the 17th. In 1990, the last time the district was open, Democratic State Sen. Chet Edwards relocated from suburban Dallas nearly 100 miles away to run successfully for Congress. The centrist Edwards was usually re-elected with ease until first-time candidate Flores finally unseated him in 2010.
Considered a strong conservative while in Congress, Sessions also served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and was known as a hard campaigner against liberal Democrats — often branding them "Pelosi's puppets."
The Republican primary will be March 3 and is considered tantamount to election.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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