Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

State Rep. Rick Noriega paid a $5,000 filing fee, instead of raising 5,000 signatures, he said, because he didn't want to delay the start of his campaign against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. (JAY JANNER: AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN)

AUSTIN — Houston state Rep. Rick Noriega formally filed as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Monday, assailing incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn as a politician who has pandered to extremists on immigration, misled voters on Iraq and turned his back on average Texans.

Noriega was the highest-profile state candidate to make it official on the first day that the Texas Democratic and Republican parties could accept filings for the March 4 primaries. But candidates filed for offices up and down the ballot.

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a Democrat, became the first major presidential candidate to file in Texas. Hoa Tran, a Chinese herbal medicine specialist from Houston, filed in the GOP presidential primary.

Emmett vs. Bacarisse

Among many other filings: A television judge filed to run for Congress in a district that runs from Harris County to Austin. An appeals court judge filed for the Texas Supreme Court. And a primary battle shaped up for Harris County judge.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and former district clerk Charles Bacarisse formally signed up to run in the Republican primary for Emmett's top county government slot. Businessman David Mincberg, the former chairman of the county Democratic Party, will run for the office in the November general election.

Emmett, a state legislator from 1979 to 1987, said he is running on a record of 30 years of conservatism. Bacarisse said campaign ethics will become one of his priorities in light of recent questions about County Commissioner Jerry Eversole's use of campaign funds.

With the district attorney's office investigating Eversole's spending of contributions, Bacarisse highlighted Emmett's statement last week that he is unsure if there is a need for disclosure when top county officials do personal business with individuals who do public business with county government.

Other than the presidential race, the top race in Texas next year will be first-term Senator Cornyn's efforts to win re-election. Cornyn has been a staunch backer of President Bush on issues like the war in Iraq and judicial nominations, but he has broken with the president to take a hard line on illegal immigration.

Noriega portrayed Cornyn as a politician who has said one thing in Texas but voted differently in Washington. He said Cornyn has engaged in "photo-ops" to show support for veterans and low-income children in the State Children's Health Insurance Program while voting against both in the Senate.

Noriega said Cornyn opposed building a border wall in speeches in South Texas while voting in favor of construction.

Noriega said President Bush had a "reasonable" plan to secure the border while making certain that the people who had entered the country illegally had a means of becoming legal workers. Noriega said Cornyn blew up efforts at compromise.

"It's unfortunate that he had to pander to extreme ideological group on this issue," Noriega said. "We have people who want to be obstructionist and use this as a wedge."

Cornyn's aides declined comment Monday.

Prefers political solution

oriega said Republicans also are misleading the American people on Iraq. He said Cornyn and others want Americans to believe there is an ongoing war in Iraq. Noriega said the solution should be political, not military.

"America wins wars. We are in an occupation of a country," Noriega said.

"The American people are tired of being misled and misinformed, and not one more drop of blood of one of my brethren is going to bring a political resolution in that region."

Noriega said he favors a timetable of withdrawal of troops from Iraq but in a way where U.S. troops are secure.

As a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, Noriega spent 14 months stationed in Afghanistan. Outside his base in Kabul, he said, there was a "bone yard" of discarded equipment left behind after the Soviet Union abandoned its 1980s-era invasion of Afghanistan.

Noriega said Cornyn also has not done enough to help average Texans deal with health care, the cost of a college education or rising gasoline prices.

Judge Larry Joe running

Noriega had been planning to file by petition, raising 5,000 signatures. But he instead paid the $5,000 filing fee, saying he did not want to delay the start of his campaign against Cornyn.

Noriega, 49, has been in the Texas House since 1999. His wife, Melissa, is a Houston city councilwoman.

Noriega's only announced primary opponent so far is Corpus Christi school teacher Ray McMurrey.

Cornyn also picked up a Republican primary opponent, anti-abortion religious fundamentalist Larry Kilgore, who received 7 percent of the vote in a 2006 GOP primary challenge to Gov. Rick Perry.

A former TV judge who dispensed justice with a Texas twang was one of two Democrats who filed for the 10th congressional district, which stretches from north Austin to northwest Harris County.

Larry Joe Doherty was known as Judge Larry Joe to viewers of his Fox reality show, Texas Justice.

Dan Grant, a former civilian worker in Iraq, entered the Democratic primary race to be the candidate against GOP Congressman Michael McCaul.

Doherty and Grant, who both live in Austin, are hammering McCaul for his support of a continued military presence in Iraq.

Jack Hirschfield, a spokesman for McCaul, said the congressman supports continued funding for troops in Iraq, citing "vastly improved" conditions on the ground.

Meanwhile, 13th Court of Appeals Justice Linda Yanez filed in the Democratic primary for the Texas Supreme Court seat held by Republican Phil Johnson.