Nueces County State Representative Vilma Luna has resigned. At the Capitol, Luna is well known to vote with Republican leadership and ignore the D next to her name which has made her a Craddick darling and an enemy of the party.

The rumor on the street is that she will be offered a job at HillCo and cash out while the going is good.

The real question that arises is what happens to that seat for November? Luna was unchallenged in the Democratic primary and she had no opponent in the November general. Luna, has said that this will allow voters pick a candidate to serve a full two year term. Which makes it sounds like there will be a primary election before November, but I am not sure about the law on that.

No matter what, this district is overwhelmingly Democrat and I view this as a victory for the party. Like Al Edwards being beaten by Boris Miles or Carlos Uresti defeating Frank Madla... Democrats have picked up yet another D vote for January.

Anyone want to make the natural speakers race comment? A moderate Republican or rural Democrat might seem substantially more appealing now that Craddick is down another vote.

UPDATE:
Philip Martin at BOR has the legal info.

The the county executive committee (CEC) will meet to replace Rep. Luna on the ballot. The CEC is made up of the precinct chairs from House District 33 (all 46 of them) and the County Chair in Nueces County. Solomon Ortiz Jr. is expected to announce by the end of the evening, and Danny Noyola Sr. is expected to announce as well.

Since the Republican Party did not field a candidate to run against Rep. Luna, they will not have anyone on the November ballot, and the seat will remain Democratic.

UPDATE:
An "Unnamed Source" has done some fantastic analysis on who might replace Luna.