Chet Edwards For Congress

The experts agree, Edwards' 2006 Campaign named best in Texas, one of top 10 in country.

Mike Hailey: "U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco will be the most powerful member of the Texas delegation to Congress when the new term gets under way in January."

Chet says "This would not have been possible without the tireless support of thousands of supporters and volunteers across the 17th District. Thank you!"

washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog< | November 1, 2006

The Ten Best Incumbent Campaigns

Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas): Even in a cycle where the national landscape heavily favors Democrats, Edwards should be in more trouble than he currently finds himself. He has President Bush as a constituent and his central Texas district went for the president with 70 percent in 2004. Republicans were initially high on GOP nominee Van Taylor thanks to his wealth and military credentials, but the party watched as Edwards quickly discredited the Republican as a carpet-bagger. This isn't Edwards's first rodeo. His campaign skills were also on display in 2004 when he was the lone Democratic incumbent targeted by the Texas "re-redistricting" plan to survive.

Best Congressional Campaign | Chet Edwards

U.S. House (D)

The National Republican Congressional Committee has been a model of perserverance and put a lot of people to work on both sides of the aisle with its perennial campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards in a Central Texas district that's tailor-made for the GOP. The GOP has poured vast sums of money into its quest to oust the Waco Democrat from Congress. It's attacked him repeatedly as a liberal, recycled candidates, put Texas A&M in his district and sent a powerful state lawmaker into battle against him on a map whose design had been personally overseen by Tom DeLay to ensure Edwards' extinction.

Republicans thought they'd found the answer this year with Van Taylor, a Marine who'd led missions in Iraq behind enemy lines before returning home to a substantial pool of personal money that he could use for the race if needed. The A Team swooped into Congressional District 17 to toast Taylor at fundraisers headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, ex-New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and other celebrities. Republicans resurrected the "Fact Check Chet" that Ramsey Farley had tried in two losing races against Edwards - and Taylor attacked the incumbent as weak on illegal immigration, bad for Social Security and all for using taxpayer funds to pay for abortions. Taylor tried but failed to put Edwards on the defensive - and the cumulative effect of all the hits couldn't mitigate the damage that the Democrat's campaign had done by portraying the Republican as a carpetbagger who owned millions of dollars worth of stock in Exxon Mobile and pharmaceutical companies that are selling a product that many CD 17 voters need but can't afford.

After 14 years of high-dollar targeting, the NRCC finally saw the light and pulled the plug on a massive television advertising campaign it had planned for Taylor a month before the vote. Edwards captured two out of every three votes in McLennan County, his home base. He won 58 percent of the vote in Brazos County where students at Aggieland and others were giving Republican statewide candidates way more than 60 percent of their votes. He came within eight votes of beating Taylor in Johnson County, a Republican stronghold where only 39 percent had backed him two years ago.

Three years after the GOP carved up his district and stood ready to pronounce him dead, Edwards won re-election by the biggest margin of victory he's enjoyed in a dozen years. Taylor never had a chance because Edwards is simply the best politician in America - or one of the best if he has any rivials - and what didn't kill him in the wake of DeLay's redistricting made him as close to invincible as a Democrat can be in a 65 percent Republican district.

The prize now is big - Edwards will be the most powerful member of the Texas delegation to Congress after the new year begins.