Campaign Chatter

Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland, pleaded guilty to a charge of abuse of official capacity, admitting that he had billed the state for expenses that had already been reimbursed by his campaign. He's already announced he won't seek reelection, and he'll be sentenced December 19. Prosecutors recommended five years of deferred adjudication, a $5,000 fine and said he should repay his campaign $14,000 on top of almost $50,000 he's already repaid. The third-degree felony carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Christi Craddick picked up endorsements from former Railroad Commissioners Charles Matthews and Barry Williamson. Elizabeth Ames Jones is seeking election to the Texas Senate and Craddick, Warren Chisum and Roland Sledge are running for that seat. Victor Carrillo, voted off the commission last year, has endorsed Chisum.

Tarrant County GOP Chairwoman Stephanie Klick will run in an open seat for the Texas House in HD-101. That's one of the new seats in the maps proposed last week by the federal judges in San Antonio.

Fort Worth City Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks says she'll run in CD-33, the new open congressional seat in Tarrant County. She'll face state Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, and he says he expects a number of other contestants.

Edinburg businessman T.C. Betencourt, a Democrat, will run in HD-40 if court-proposed plans for the Texas House hold; that make him a challenger to state Rep. Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg in a district that appears to favor a Democrat.

Donna Campbell, who's running for the Texas Seante against Sen. Jeff Wentworth and Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, got the endorsement of former Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Cathie Adams, who's also the former head of the Texas Eagle Forum.

We put the right candidate in the wrong race last week; here's the correct version: Former San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz is planning a run in CD-35 — the congressional district that includes parts of Hays, Travis, Comal and Bexar counties. When she announced, she was looking at a race with U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio. Now, it's apparently just Castro.