December 6, 2017
Local television newsman Brett Shipp has left his position at Dallas-based WFAA to run for Congress, according to a news report from the station.Â
Shipp did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His Twitter account, which had been set to private as of midday Wednesday, featured a Congressional campaign logo.Â
Shipp is just barely making the Dec. 11 filing deadline for next year’s elections. He will enter a crowded Democratic primary that will decide who will take on U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, a Dallas Republican. Â
The late entry means he lags far behind some of his competitors in fundraising and will have an abridged window to make up that ground ahead of the March 6 primary.Â
The top Democratic fundraiser in the race has been former State Department official Ed Meier, who had about $440,000 in cash on hand at the end of September. Meanwhile, Sessions has nearly $1.2 million on hand for his re-election bid.Â
Sessions has not had a tough fight for re-election in well over a decade. But Hillary Clinton carried the district in 2016, giving Democrats optimism they can seriously challenge the seat. Â
Shipp is well known throughout the district as a leading investigative reporter for WFAA, often the ratings winner in the Dallas-Fort Worth television market. His father Bert Shipp was also a longtime WFAA reporter. Â
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/12/06/local-tv-reporter-brett-shipp-launches-bid-unseat-us-rep-pete-sessions/.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.