(Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
The surprise announcement Saturday that Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, will retire in 2026 after six years in office has already sparked two dramatic scenarios in Texas’ 22nd District (southwestern Houston).
One is the prospect of Nehls being succeeded by his identical twin brother Trevor Nehls, a former constable like Troy. Only twice in the last 64 years has a brother succeeded a brother in Congress: in 1961, when Arizona’s Mo Udall was elected to succeed brother Stewart Udall in Congress after Stewart’s appointment as U.S. Secretary of the Interior and in 2016, when retiring Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick was replaced by younger brother Brian Fitzpatrick, who currently represents Bucks County, Pennsylvania in Congress.
The other dramatic scenario that could be played out in Texas’ 22nd District is the return of the Bush family to politics. Following George W. Bush’s nationally televised eulogy of former Vice President Dick Cheney, speculation was sparked that members of his family — long dormant in Republican politics — would seek a return to the political arena…