Republican congressional candidates now up to 10

A conservative member of the state board of education is the newest entrant in the race for the Congressional seat held by Nick Lampson, D-Stafford.

Richmond's Cynthia Dunbar joined the race for Congressional District 22, squaring off with nine other Republican candidates in the March primary. Dunbar won election to the SBOE in 2006, the same year Lampson wrested Tom DeLay's former Congressional seat from decades of Republican control.

Also new to the race is Kevyn Bazzy, a U.S. Army reservist with a background in military intelligence.

By the filing deadline Tuesday, the other Republican candidates in the race were

€ Dean Allen Hrbacek, former mayor of Sugar Land;

€ Robert Brian Klock, former military officer;

€ John Manlove, former Pasadena mayor;

€ Peter Graham Olson, former GOP Senate staffer;

€ Ryan Edward Rowley, NASA contractor;

€ Shelley Sekula Gibbs, former Houston City Council member who served the final month of DeLay's unexpired term;

€ Jim Squier, state district judge from Harris County;

€ Robert Talton, state representative from Pasadena.

Lampson, who won the office after losing his previous Congressional seat in Beaumont, does not face a Democratic challenger.

Republican voters in portions of north and west Fort Bend County will be casting ballots for the Congressional District 14 race between incumbent Ron Paul of Lake Jackson, and two challengers - Friendswood City Councilman Chris Peden and Mark Mann.

Though Paul is currently in a spirited campaign for the GOP nomination for president, he has indicated his intention to run for reelection in District 14 if he does not receive his party's nod.