President George W. Bush participated at a rally in Sugar Land on Monday to try to gain votes for Republican candidates, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Bush helped gain support for candidates embroiled in close races, including Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who is running as a write-in candidate to fill Tom DeLay's former seat in District 22.

"It's a tremendous honor to have the president of the United States come for our campaign," Sekula-Gibbs said. "It's an awesome opportunity for us to get the vote out and tell the base this is a very winnable seat."

"It's going to help Shelley Sekula-Gibbs a lot," said Gary Gillen, Fort Bend County Republican Party chairman. "I think that it shows that the Republican party and the president think Shelley Sekula-Gibbs can win this race, or he wouldn't be here."

Sekula-Gibbs has mounted a furious campaign since her entry into the race in August. DeLay resigned from Congress in June amid legal and ethical problems. But because he had already won the GOP nomination for his district, the courts barred Republicans from replacing him on the ballot. Republicans were then forced to run a write-in candidate and backed Sekula-Gibbs.

Since then the national GOP has pumped just more than $1 million to the Sekula-Gibbs race, still far less than the $2.3 million already spent by Democrat Nick Lampson. But the appearance by Bush is expected to give her a boost.

Lampson said even though Bush has offered his support, Sekula-Gibbs' record will hurt her chances with Republican voters.

"She has a weak record on illegal immigration, she skipped votes that cost Houstonians property tax cuts and she once rejected the endorsement of a prominent Christian Coalition leader," Lampson said in a statement. "The Republican base isn't just going to forget these things and it will be hard for her to excite them to write her name in, even with the president coming to town."

Attorneys for the Democratic Party filed documents Monday with the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office that could be damaging to Sekula-Gibbs' campaign.

In signed affidavits, witnesses described how Sekula-Gibbs allegedly entered two polling locations in violation of election law.

"She should follow the law and respect the voters by not engaging in potentially criminal misdemeanor activity of electioneering in the polls," said Larry Veselka, attorney for the Texas Democratic Party.

Texas voters have never elected a write-in candidate for public office.