Tag Archives: Chambers County

We’re going to be electing what now?

I had no idea about this. It sure wasn’t covered in the runup to this past election. In a state known for too many elections, there’s another one coming to Texas’ 50 largest counties. This May, voters in those most … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2023, Election 2024, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

What will it take to keep those ten appellate court benches we won in 2018?

As you may recall, Democrats won a ton of Appellate Court races in 2018. Ten of them, in fact, five each on the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals, the first such victories since winning a lone bench in 2008. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The big voter suppression law is even worse than you thought

Such a lovely little surprise tucked in there. When state lawmakers passed a sweeping and controversial new election law in 2021, they quietly included a provision that drew little notice or debate. But election administration experts say the measure is … Continue reading

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What I want from the next HCDP Chair

As you know, the Harris County Democratic Party will soon have a new Chair. And as you know, I am a Democratic precinct chair, which means I’m one of the several hundred people that will vote on who that is. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

CCA tells Paxton again that he’s not the supreme prosecutor

Good, but this isn’t over. It just means that the fight will have shifted. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s last-ditch attempt to regain the power of his office to unilaterally prosecute election cases was rejected by the state’s highest criminal … Continue reading

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Let’s pay some attention to the Gulf Coast Protection District

They may raise some tax revenue to help pay for the Ike Dike, so best to know what’s happening with it. Especially since they didn’t exactly go out of their way to make it easy to do that. Danielle Goshen … Continue reading

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Et tu, H-GAC?

WTAF? Houston is slated to get just 2 percent of the regional council’s $488 million tranche for storm mitigation, angering city leaders who say the city consistently has been shorted when it comes to the federal money. The Houston-Galveston Area … Continue reading

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On to the next mail ballot problem

A lot of the people who managed to fill out the mail ballot application form correctly have failed to fill in the newly-required voter ID information on the ballot and have to get that fixed or have their ballot tossed. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Can the CCA withstand political pressure?

Sure hope so. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judges’ phone lines and email inboxes have been flooded for more than a week by callers angry about a ruling last month that stripped Attorney General Ken Paxton of the authority to … Continue reading

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Paxton still wants to be supreme prosecutor

Please hold firm, CCA. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the state’s highest criminal court to reconsider a recent decision that stripped his agency of the power to prosecute election law violations. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in … Continue reading

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CCA tells Ken Paxton he’s not the supreme prosecutor

Cry me a river, Kenny. Texas’ highest court for criminal cases on Wednesday struck down a law that allows the attorney general to unilaterally prosecute election cases. The state’s Court of Criminal Appeals issued an 8-1 opinion saying a provision … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What will Harris County do about rising case numbers?

I’m afraid we’ll find out soon enough. The Harris Health System’s COVID-19 ward was down to just one patient at the beginning of July. Anxious to hit zero COVID-19 patients, Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, the hospital system’s CEO, purchased and stored … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: State House district changes by county

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions Appellate courts, Part 1 Appellate courts, Part 2 Judicial averages Other cities District Attorney County Attorney Sheriff Tax Assessor County Clerk HCDE Fort … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

When the vaccine problem becomes more about demand than supply

Or to put it another way, what are we gonna do with the people who refuse to get vaccinated? Low vaccination rates in counties that are whiter and more conservative could be impairing Texas’ ability to quickly reach herd immunity … Continue reading

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SCoTX punts on ERCOT lawsuit question

Wimpy. The Texas Supreme Court punted Friday on a question dogging millions of Texans affected by last month’s catastrophic power failure: Can ERCOT, the state’s grid manager, be sued? The state’s highest court ruled 5-4 that it won’t decide — … Continue reading

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Paxton sues Griddy

Bandwagon time. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday against electricity retailer Griddy, claiming it misled customers using deceptive business practices after some customers reported bills costing tens of thousands of dollars. These charges were incurred during Texas’ … Continue reading

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Suing Griddy

This is going to be interesting. A Chambers County resident filed a class-action lawsuit against electricity retailer Griddy on Monday, accusing the provider of price gouging customers during last week’s freeze. She is seeking $1 billion in relief for affected … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Precinct analysis: Appellate courts, part 1

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions My next two posts in this series will focus on the 1st and 14th Courts of Appeals. These courts are a little strange … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The regional COVID situation

Not great, Bob. COVID-19 is surging across southeast Texas, especially in the suburban counties outside of Houston, which have seen a steady increase in the number of new cases, data show. Galveston, Chambers, Brazoria, Liberty, and Montgomery counties have all … Continue reading

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A high level look at the changing suburbs

The Trib takes a broad and high-level look at what I’m digging into now. Although they didn’t get the blue wave they expected, Democrats narrowed the gap with Republicans in five of the most competitive and populous suburban counties in … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Counties of interest, part one: Around Harris

There’s been so much focus in the past couple of years about the suburbs and how their traditional voting patterns have changed. I wanted to use the election results we have to take a closer look at what that means. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Harris County posts updated election results

From Twitter: . That won’t affect most races, and it probably does not affect any Harris-County specific races. But if provisional ballots are like that statewide, it could affect larger, close elections. I’m particularly watching Chief Justice for the 14th … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Followup omnibus Election Day post

Wanted to clear up some loose ends from the late night/early morning post and add a couple of things I’d missed the first time around. I’ll have a longer “thoughts and reactions” post probably tomorrow. – The district results from … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Coronavirus and hurricane shelters

Two things we have to be thinking about today. Houston officials and public health experts are expressing concern that Tropical Storm Laura could amplify the spread of COVID-19 by displacing residents to public shelters or residences outside the area, increasing … Continue reading

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Ready or not, here we vote

Hope it goes all right. Poll workers [began] greeting voters from behind face masks and shields as early voting begins in primary runoffs that will look and operate differently from any Texas election in the past 100 years. Although the … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Younger people get coronavirus, too

Because that’s how viruses work. More Houstonians younger than 60 are testing positive for the novel coronavirus than those who are most at risk of developing serious complications from the illness. Of that number, middle-aged adults — those in their … Continue reading

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The rest of the H-GAC region

As long as we’ve been talking about Waller County and Montgomery County, I thought I’d check in on the other members of the Houston-Galveston Area Council region. Harris County and six of its seven neighbors – Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, … Continue reading

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What’s up, Waller County?

Meet the lone holdout county in the Houston area. Waller County Judge Trey Duhon says he expected to announce a stay-at-home order for his rural county this week, following the lead of other major counties in the region. But then … Continue reading

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We’re still #4

We’ll probably be that for awhile. According to the new report from the Greater Houston Partnership, the domestic population growth for the Houston region has slowed down over the last eight years. The report, which is based on population estimates … Continue reading

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Another big flood would be bad

Breaking news, but this is worth paying attention to. Housing sales would drop, gasoline prices would increase and Texas would lose hundreds of billions of dollars in economic output if a major storm struck an unprotected coastline, according to a … Continue reading

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Harris County sues ITC over Deer Park fire

Go get ’em. Harris County has sued Intercontinental Terminals Co. for failing to prevent a massive chemical fire that burned for more than 60 hours last week and spewed an unknown volume of hazardous chemicals into the air and nearby … Continue reading

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Chron overview of HD23

We go to Galveston for one of the few interesting Legislative races in the area. A former Democratic state legislator is trying to recapture the Texas House District 23 seat from the first Republican to hold the office since Reconstruction. … Continue reading

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Our gay state

Is getting gayer, according to the Census. It’s no secret that Austin and Central Texas have much appeal for same-sex couples, but new census data from 2010 underscore the depth and breadth of the attraction. Among the highlights from an … Continue reading

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Seliger-Solomons 2.0

Go to http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us and have a gander at Plan C130 to see the version of the Seliger-Solomons Congressional plan that was passed last night by the Senate redistricting committee. The biggest changes are in and around Harris County, mostly due … Continue reading

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