Tag Archives: CD23

How the redistricting case could play out

Posted on August 6, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Michael Li games out how the Texas redistricting litigation may go from the anticipated court ruling to final resolution. So, in short, Texans could end up with a new set of maps (drawn by the Texas Legislature or drawn by … Continue reading →

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July 2017 campaign finance reports – Congress

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s July, and that means it’s campaign finance report season. Everyone has reports due at the end of June, so at every level of government there are reports to look at. I’ll be working my way through them, starting today … Continue reading →

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Will we have enough candidates for the opportunities?

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

There’s always something to worry about. With the Texas case moving forward, the boundaries of the congressional districts remain in question with the 2018 elections less than 18 months away. The Lone Star State’s primary filing deadline is in six … Continue reading →

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Gallego-Hurd 3.0

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It could happen. Less than a year after he lost his bid to reclaim his U.S. House seat, former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, is seriously considering another run for Congress, citing shifting political winds in Texas’ 23rd congressional district … Continue reading →

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Let a thousand hypothetical alternative Texas Congressional maps bloom

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Stephen Wolf of Daily Kos Elections takes a crack at drawing a remedial Congressional map for Texas. Just how effective is GOP gerrymandering in Texas, and what might a redrawn map look like in 2018 as a consequence of a … Continue reading →

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Republicans are a little freaked out over Texas Congressional redistricting possibilities

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I referenced this Trib story in last Friday’s post about the state declining to do a special session on redistricting, which at least some members of Congress from Texas would have liked. There was more to this story, which I … Continue reading →

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It’s already crowded in CD07

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Gonna need a scorecard to keep track of all the players. On Wednesday, two Texas Democrats are launching separate campaigns for Congress in a district that’s served as a Republican stronghold since the congressional days of former President George H.W. … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: Congressional districts

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Legislative Council now has full data from the 2016 elections on its site, so this seemed like as good a time as any to take a look at the data from Congressional districts. I’m much more limited in … Continue reading →

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Big day for redistricting in court

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Tomorrow the questions of what happens next in the redistricting lawsuits begin to get answered. Will Texas soon see new political maps that are friendlier to Latino and black voters and, in turn, Democrats? If so, who would draw them: … Continue reading →

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Very early speculation about Congressional campaigns

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib rounded up all the scuttlebutt about who may be running for various Congressional districts next year. I’ve picked out a few to comment on. CD07: National Democrats are interested in Houston attorney Collin Cox and Alex Triantaphyllis, the … Continue reading →

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State wants to appeal redistricting ruling

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

From Texas Redistricting: The State of Texas filed a motion [Wednesday] afternoon with the three-judge panel in the Texas redistricting case, asking the panel to give the state permission to appeal the panel’s March 10 ruling on the state’s 2011 … Continue reading →

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Voter ID education was a massive failure

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This is outrageous. The University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs recently completed a report, “The Texas Voter ID Law and the 2016 Election,” based on surveys of registered voters who sat out the 2016 elections in the state’s … Continue reading →

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Motion filed to block current Congressional map

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

From the Lone Star Project. Moments ago the Plaintiffs in the ongoing Texas congressional redistricting case filed a joint motion asking the San Antonio Federal District Court for an injunction to block the use of the current congressional map during … Continue reading →

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Court rules several Congressional districts were illegally drawn

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Bam! Some of Texas’ 36 congressional districts violate either the U.S. Constitution or the federal Voting Rights Act, a panel of federal judges ruled Friday. In a long-delayed ruling, the judges ruled 2-1 that the Texas Legislature must redraw the … Continue reading →

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DCCC says it will aim for three Texas Congressional seats

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what this means in practice. The House Democratic campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, announced Monday morning that the party intends to target two longtime GOP incumbents that, until recently, have long been considered locks for re-election: … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: Texas Congressional districts

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

From Daily Kos: Texas’s GOP-drawn congressional map was designed to create 24 safely red seats and 11 safely Democratic districts, with only the 23rd District in the western part of the state being truly competitive. In 2012, Mitt Romney carried … Continue reading →

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Dems sweep Harris County

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Hillary Clinton had a 100K lead in early voting in Harris County, and increased her lead as the night went on. The only countywide Republican who was leading early on was Mike Sullivan, but later in the evening, at the … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day Eight: We do have a pretty good idea of who has been voting so far

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Why such a mushy article about the state of early voting so far? Because Texas voters can use a single click to back an entire slate, the down-ballot candidates running countywide have ever-slimming chances of influencing their destinies. As polarization … Continue reading →

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What next for Julian Castro?

Posted on July 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I can think of something for him to do. Housing Secretary Julián Castro was long touted as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton, but when the call came Friday informing him that the presumptive Democratic nominee had picked someone … Continue reading →

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Gallego claims poll lead over Hurd in CD23

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Just another item to add to the list of reasons why Donald Trump is and has been bad news for Texas Republicans. Voters in the district, which is the largest Congressional district in the country which is not its own … Continue reading →

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We haven’t heard the last of TMF

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

He’ll be back. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer says he laments nothing about a failed gambit for the state Senate that will end his 16-year stint with the Texas Legislature. The boisterous San Antonio Democrat, however, is leaving office at … Continue reading →

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More Congressional seats are likely on the way

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

If current trends continue, that is. Texas could pick up two, perhaps three, new congressional seats following the 2020 decennial Census if current population growth continues through the decade, political and demographic experts said Thursday. With continued growth in Texas’ … Continue reading →

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Voter ID may have had broader effects than we thought

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. Texas’ strict voter identification requirements kept many would-be voters in a Hispanic-majority congressional district from going to the polls last November — including many who had proper IDs — a new survey shows. And the state’s voter ID law … Continue reading →

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More on the potential Hillary effect in Texas

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib, from shortly before Hillary Clinton made her official announcement. 2. She could resuscitate Texas’ Democratic farm teams. Beyond the presidency, Democrats are betting on gains in the U.S. House in 2016. They’ve got nowhere to go, they … Continue reading →

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Gallego-Hurd 2.0 is on

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As anticipated. As expected, former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego will seek to win back the congressional seat he lost to current U.S. Rep. Will Hurd. Hurd, R-San Antonio, ousted Gallego, D-Alpine, by a 2-point margin in 2014. The race for … Continue reading →

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Gallego/Hurd 2.0 seems likely

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I won’t be surprised. A congressional rematch may be nigh in southwest Texas. National Democrats still reeling from their midterm clobbering are intent on picking up seats in 2016, and their eyes already are on Texas’ only competitive congressional district, … Continue reading →

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DCCC wants Gallego for a rematch in 2016

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise here. Rep. Pete Gallego lost his re-election bid two weeks ago — and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is already pushing for him to run in 2016, Roll Call reports. Gallego, a freshman Democrat from Alpine, was unseated … Continue reading →

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The Battleground effect in legislative races

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So here’s a crazy idea. Rather than judge Battleground Texas by our own beliefs about how things should have gone, what say we take a look at the actual numbers of a few races and see what they tell us? … Continue reading →

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First impressions of the 2014 results

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

My initial thoughts, for what they are worth. – Let me begin by saying that for all the criticism I had of the UT/Texas Trib’s polling and the skepticism of Internet-sample methodology, they were fairly accurate in the end. In … Continue reading →

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Saving SD10 and other benchmarks

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Observer looks at the race to succeed Wendy Davis in SD10. It’s a steamy, hot summer morning in the Metroplex, and at the Dixie House, a Southern-style diner in east Ft. Worth where gravy flows like water, Libby Willis … Continue reading →

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Of course some people will split their votes

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s just a matter of how many of them do so, and if the races in question are close enough for it to matter. Democrats are hoping the Republicans will eventually make some of the mistakes Democrats themselves made back … Continue reading →

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The Latino Victory Project

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I like the sound of this. Building on record-breaking fundraising numbers, an expanded donor base and a historically high number of Latino voters in the 2012 presidential election, a progressive Latino group is set to officially begin efforts to expand … Continue reading →

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The small number of competitive legislative races in November

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib discusses the lack of legislative action in November. In the House, nine Republican and two Democratic races are still undecided. An early list of competitive November races — this is in a House with 150 seats — comes … Continue reading →

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The farm team

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Roll Call takes a look at the Texas Democrats of the future. Democrats rarely fielded competitive Senate candidates over the past two decades — the party’s three best performers in that time span received 44 percent, 43 percent and 43 … Continue reading →

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