Read more from KRISTV News in Corpus Christi:
CORPUS CHRISTI - John Sharp was in town Friday morning to drum up support for his United State Senate campaign.
If Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns from her seat, Sharp plans to run on the Democratic ticket.
If elected Sharp hopes to balance the federal budget, guarantee affordable college tuition and create a law that requires the government to buy goods produced in the United States.
Michael Hurta of Burnt Orange Report writes:
After an apparently inaccurate report that Kay Bailey Hutchison has no plans to resign her Senate seat, many other news agencies reported that there were, indeed, still plans. Also reminding us that Senator Hutchison will resign: John Sharp. He even had his own sources.
[...]
Yesterday we saw a poll that shows Kay Bailey Hutchison failing to gain on Rick Perry, despite an apparently better debate. Instead, Debra Medina picks off supporters from both of them. That means chaos, and chaos might just increase Kay Bailey Hutchison's ineffectiveness and reasons to resign.
If and when she does resign, John Sharp is still zoned in. National Democrats are worried about a Senate campaign in Massachusetts where their candidate, Martha Coakley, has been criticized for not being zoned in. Texas Democrats the most focused in the country? Perhaps.
Read more from Francisco Diaz with the Laredo Sun:
LAREDO, TX- John Sharp was received a warm welcome in the city , during his visit to promote his candidacy to the U.S. Senate.
The ex Railroad Commissioner and Comptroller of Texas was received by Sergio Mora, president of the Democratic Party in Webb County, together with distinguished members of the party, like Mercurio Martinez Jr., María Eugenia Calderon, Margarito Benavides, Jaime Canales and several more.
The reception for Sharp took place at Mesa 5 restaurant bar, where many sympathizers came to support the democratic candidate who seeks to take the position that Kay Bailey Hutchinson will leave open.
The current U.S. republican senator will leave her position to seek the governorship of the state of Texas, where she will be running against Rick Perry for the Republican nomination in March of 2010.
Sharp mentioned that education is the key to economic progress and wellbeing for the future of Texas; therefore he considers it necessary to invest all the possible resources to have a skilled labor workforce.
Read more from Greg Little with the Gonzales Inquirer:
John Sharp calls himself a "conservative Democrat."
And he wants to be your next U.S. Senator from Texas.
"Washington is so messed up," said Sharp, who was in the Gonzales area on Thursday of last week. "The Texas problems are minor compared to that. I think we are on the verge of wrecking the whole country."
Sharp is hoping to take the seat of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who now says she is going to step down in March. Hutchison is challenging Gov. Rick Perry for the state's highest office.
Sharp said he blames both parties for the current situation.
"We've had two bailout bills, one Republican and one Democrat, and neither are any good," he said.
Sharp, of Austin, was a state senator for many years and represented Gonzales County.
He insists a Democrat can win a seat in the U.S. Senate. He looks back to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen as a prime example of an effective Democrat in the Senate.
"Texas is better off with one from each (party) in the U.S. Senate," said Sharp.
Read more from John Kanelis with the Amarillo Globe-News:
John Sharp has an interesting take on the concept of "divided government."
Texas, he says, is served better when its U.S. senatorial delegation is divided equally: one Democrat and one Republican.
Why is that? Sharp, a presumptive Democratic candidate for the Senate - with a launch date to be determined by someone else - adheres to a belief expressed by the late U.S. Sens. John Tower and Lloyd Bentsen.
The Republican Tower served in the Senate with the Democrat Bentsen for 14 years. Presidents of both parties occupied the White House during that time (from 1971, when Bentsen joined Tower in the Senate, until 1985, when Tower retired). Sharp, who visited Amarillo on the day of former state Sen. Teel Bivins' funeral, believes it is critical for Texas to have a place at the White House table no matter the party in power.
Bentsen and Tower, Sharp said, used to extol the virtues of having a senator from each party on the job. That is part of Sharp's platform as he begins to plow the ground for a probable Senate run.
Sharp gets endorsement and business support
Read more from Tristan Hallman with the Texas Politics:
Former Texas Comptroller John Sharp, a Democrat running for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's yet-to-be-vacated seat, was endorsed by two state senators, Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-Brownsville
Sharp, like the two senators, is a native of South Texas.
Sharp also ran in second in a non-scientific online survey of 935 members of the Texas Business Association for their preference for the next U.S. Senator from Texas. Dewhurst finished first in the poll, with 22.46 percent.
Read more from the McAllen Monitor:
South Texas native and U.S. Senate candidate John Sharp was endorsed this week by Democratic state Sens. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa and Eddie Lucio Jr.
Their endorsements added to others that Sharp, a former state comptroller, has received from community leaders in the Rio Grande Valley.
In throwing their support behind Sharp, the state senators cited work he did as Texas comptroller to develop an economic vision, a news release from Sharp’s campaign states. They also praised his implementation of the Lone Star Card, which eliminated waste and fraud in the federal food stamp program, and his implementation of a pre-paid college tuition program.
“John Sharp is uniting South Texas behind his call for positive change,” the state senators said in a joint statement. “From health care to jobs, John’s mainstream agenda is a perfect match for our communities.”
By Steve Tyler at the Rio Grande Guardian:
McALLEN, Nov. 4 - The Rio Grande Valley’s two state senators have announced they are backing former Texas Comptroller John Sharp for U.S. Senate.
In a joint statement, Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-Brownsville, and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said Valley families need a “son of South Texas” working for them in Washington. Sharp hails from Placedo, a small farming town outside of Victoria, Texas.
“John Sharp is uniting South Texas behind his call for positive change,” Lucio and Hinojosa said, in a joint statement. “From health care to jobs, John’s mainstream agenda is a perfect match for our communities.”
Read more from Josh Baugh from the San Antonio Express News:
With Republicans working for the wealthy and Democrats fighting for the poor, the middle class has been forgotten and dumped on for two decades, U.S. Senate candidate John Sharp said Saturday.
“The middle class has been treated like second-class citizens in this country,” Sharp said. “What we have to do is pay attention to those folks.”
The South Texas Democrat, who’s being supported by state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, held his San Antonio campaign kickoff downtown on Saturday.
