Tag Archives: Election 2016

Time for another chat about voter registration and turnout

Let’s do it. Texas Democrats came away from Beto O’Rourke’s surprisingly narrow 2018 defeat to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz with a simple plan: register to vote the millions of nonvoting Texans that demographics suggest lean Democrat and electoral victories will … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Ann Harris Bennett not running for re-election

We will elect a new Tax Assessor-Collector next year. Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett, a second-term Democrat, announced last week she will not seek re-election in 2024. She will continue to lead Harris County’s voter registration process through … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Nueces County DA announces Senate candidacy

Okay. The embattled district attorney for Nueces County, Mark Gonzalez, announced Tuesday that he will enter the Democratic primary to challenge U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. By announcing his campaign, Gonzalez resigned his current position — a significant development given … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Paxton not feeling the love in Collin County

Poor baby. When the Texas House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton in the waning days of a regular legislative session, some Texans were shocked that the 121 “yes” votes included every representative from Collin County, … Continue reading

Posted in Scandalized!, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

So what happens with CD18 now?

This story is a very basic explainer about Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s just-announced Mayoral campaign. There’s only so much it can tell us as she has not yet talked about what her top campaign priorities are, and most of the … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Precinct analysis: Looking back at the 2012 landscape

PREVIOUSLY: State House 2022 We’ve had our first look at the way the new State House districts performed, and while we can expect the 2024 election to be a little different, it’s clear at this time that there aren’t many … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In support of Crystal Mason

Hoping for the best. The same month Tarrant County officials announced the creation of an election integrity task force, a group of 14 bipartisan prosecutors threw their weight behind an effort to acquit the woman at the center of a high-profile … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

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

Precinct analysis: The better statewide races

PREVIOUSLY Beto versus Abbott Beto versus the spread Hidalgo versus Mealer As noted before, Greg Abbott got 490K votes in Harris County, far less than the 559K he received in 2018 running against Lupe Valdez. Of the other six races … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

State and county election result relationships: Tarrant County

In years past, Tarrant County was a pretty close bellwether for election results in the state of Texas. From 2004 through 2016, the closeness of their Presidential numbers with the statewide numbers was eerie. But since 2018 the talk has … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Christopher Busby: The Case for Texas Democratic Optimism

(Note: The following is a guest post that was submitted to me. I occasionally solicit guest posts, and also occasionally accept them from people I trust.) The election came and went with a similar story. Texas Democrats just started to … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

State and county election result relationships, part 4: What happened in 2022

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Now that the final totals are in, let’s go back and do the same exercise in comparing overall results for statewide candidates to the results they got in Harris County, and then from there … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fewer mail ballots rejected in November

Good, but still could be better. Local election officials in Texas are reporting a drop in the percentage of mail ballots that have so far been flagged for rejection during the ongoing midterm elections, as compared with a spike earlier … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What will Tarrant County do this year?

Hoping for a blue result at the top and at least closer races below it, but we’ll see. Eight years after voting for Gov. Greg Abbott, Angela Martinez found herself waiting in line Tuesday to snap a photo with Beto … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

State and county election result relationships, part 3: Other county races

Part One Part Two Last time we looked at judicial races, which for all of the complaints about not knowing the candidates and just going by partisan labels have produced a consistent range of outcomes over the years. Some people … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

State and county election result relationships, part 2: Judicial races

In Part One of this series, we looked at the relationship between statewide results and Harris County results for statewide candidates. In the last three elections, statewide Democratic candidates have done on average more than nine points better in Harris … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

State and county election result relationships, part 1: How Harris compares

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between how statewide Democratic candidates do in Harris County versus how they do overall, and what that might tell us about the state of play in Harris County. Since I started … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

What do we expect from CD23?

It was the perennial razor-close high-dollar swing district all last decade. Will Hurd won it three times, but never reached 50% in any of the three elections. It moved a few points towards the GOP in 2020 when Tony Gonzales … Continue reading

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The independents

Recently I got an email from a gentleman named Ted Wood, who wrote to inform me that he had successfully completed the requirements to be an independent candidate for Chief Justice of the First Court of Appeals on the November … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Jordan and Dolcefino

I have questions about this. Darrell William Jordan, a Harris County misdemeanor court judge, on Monday was arrested and charged with of official oppression, according to court records. Jordan is accused of using his office to unlawfully arrest and detain … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Flores wins CD34 special election

Groan. Republican Mayra Flores prevailed Tuesday in a special election for an open congressional seat in South Texas, marking a major breakthrough for Republicans eager to blaze new inroads in the historically blue region. She beat Dan Sanchez, the leading … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Crystal Mason’s conviction to be reconsidered

Good news. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has told a lower appeals court to take another look at the controversial illegal voting conviction of Crystal Mason, who was given a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: The new Senate map

Previously: New State House map, New Congressional map, new SBOE map. The good news is that all 31 Senate seats will be on the ballot this year, as it is a post-redistricting year. The bad news is that the only … Continue reading

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Final 2022 primary early voting totals

It’s been a strange two weeks for early voting, so let’s get to the wrapup. Here are your final early voting totals. The table for comparison: Election Mail Early Total ================================ 2018 D 22,695 70,152 92,847 2018 R 24,500 61,425 … Continue reading

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

Precinct analysis: The new SBOE map

Previously: New State House map, New Congressional map I probably care more about the SBOE than most normal people do. It’s not that powerful an entity, there are only 15 seats on it, and their elections go largely under the … Continue reading

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Beto and South Texas

Brace yourself for a lot of stories like this in the coming months. In the first days of his campaign for governor, Beto O’Rourke made a beeline to this southernmost corner of the state, saying it was no mistake he … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Precinct analysis: The new Congressional map

Previously: New State House map We will now take a look at how the districts of interest in the new Congressional map have changed over the past decade. Same basic idea, looking at the closer districts from 2020 to see … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The growing field for Land Commissioner

We have some interesting candidates on our side. A member of a South Texas family that owns one of the largest ranches in the country is seeking the Democratic nomination for Texas land commissioner, the statewide office overseeing the Alamo’s … Continue reading

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Luke Warford announces for Railroad Commissioner

He’s got the right idea about what to run on. A 32-year-old former top staffer for the Texas Democratic Party is running for a spot on the three-person commission regulating the state’s oil and gas industry, hoping to unseat Republican … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: The new State House map

Like it or not, we have new State House districts. We may as well acquaint ourselves with them. The coverage we’ve had so far has focused on the 2020 election numbers to say whether a district will be red or … Continue reading

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

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez to switch to CD34

And in doing so, he’s probably going to make it harder to hold onto CD15, the swingiest district in the state (as far as we can tell from 2020 data). U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, announced Tuesday he is running … Continue reading

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

2021 Day Seven EV report: After the weekend

Let’s get right to it: These are the early voting totals for the 2021 election after Sunday: Mail ballots: 36,517 In person: 19,901 You can see the full Day Seven report here. The “voters by type” breakdown on the last … Continue reading

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HD118 runoff on November 2

Should help a bit with turnout, I guess. Better than some random day in January, anyway. Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that Nov. 2 will be the date of the special election runoff to replace former state Rep. Leo Pacheco, … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2021 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments