Monthly Archives: July 2020

2020 primary runoff results: Congress

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to bullet point these just for simplicity. There will be news stories to look at later. CD03 Dem: Lulu Seikaly cruised to an easy win here. She was just over 60% at around 10 PM, with some Election … Continue reading →

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2020 primary runoff results: SBOE, Senate, House

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Again, bullet points. Get used to it. SBOE6 Dem: Michelle Palmer had a 65-35 lead after early voting, and that was pretty much all there was to it. SBOE5 GOP: It’s much more boring and sedate, but the Republican candidate … Continue reading →

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2020 primary runoff results: Judicial and county races

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Winding things up… The big, albeit not unexpected, news is that Cheryl Elliott Thornton defeated incumbent Judge Alex Smoots-Thomas, with over 70% of the vote. That honestly comes as a relief. I sincerely hope Judge Smoots-Thomas gets her stuff straightened … Continue reading →

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CBS News/YouGov: Trump 46, Biden 45

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe a tad bit of a letdown after yesterday’s result, but still quite solid. The coronavirus outbreak is reshaping the presidential race in three key Sun Belt states. Joe Biden is now leading President Trump by six points in Florida, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The progressives and the runoffs

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

May as well check in on this. Judging from March, the ideological left wing of the Democratic Party in Texas should be inconsolable. After months of high hopes, the faction ran into a centrist buzz saw in the March 3 … Continue reading →

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State Supreme Court denies GOP effort to force convention to happen

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Denied. The Texas Supreme Court on Monday rejected the state Republican Party’s appeal of a lower court’s decision regarding its in-person Houston convention, all but ensuring that Mayor Sylvester Turner’s move to cancel the event will stand. In an unsigned … Continue reading →

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Today is Primary Runoff Day

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Last chance to vote for your party’s nominees. From the inbox: Today, Tuesday, July 14th, is Election Day for the July 2020 Primary Runoff Elections.Voters can cast their ballots anytime between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at any of the … Continue reading →

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UT-Tyler/DMN: Biden 48, Trump 43

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Holy mackeral. Former Vice President Joe Biden has built a 5-point lead over President Donald Trump in Texas, as unease over Trump’s handling of coronavirus mounts, a new Dallas Morning News-University of Texas Tyler poll has found. If the general … Continue reading →

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AG sides with Mayor Turner in GOP convention litigation

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

But only in a limited and technical way, so cool your jets. The Texas Attorney General’s Office on Saturday sided with Mayor Sylvester Turner in a legal dispute over the state Republican Party’s in-person convention, arguing that the Texas Supreme … Continue reading →

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The hidden toll

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Another reason why the reported death count from COVID-19 is too low: People who didn’t know they were infected and die at home may never be tested or counted. As coronavirus cases surge, inundating hospitals and leading to testing shortages, … Continue reading →

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Give the bars a break

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m OK with this. The Texas Restaurant Association has asked Gov. Greg Abbott to revise the definitions of “bar” in his recent order closing drinking establishments in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases. In a letter to the governor, … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for July 12

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

“A surge in restaurant spending appears to predict a surge in coronavirus cases weeks later, a new JPMorgan study found.” “Both the anti-quarantine protests that the far-right orchestrated in April and May and the recent civil unrest have accelerated the … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 17 Comments

2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Final Totals: Democrats carry the day

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Today’s going to be a numbers-heavy post. Let’s start with Texas Elects, giving us a penultimate day summary: Early voting in person ended today (Friday) for the July 14 primary runoff and special elections. Through yesterday (Thursday), 532K people have … Continue reading →

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Who wants to enforce Greg Abbott’s mask order?

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Gov. Greg Abbott called on police across Texas to step up enforcement of his mask order amid the mounting pandemic, explaining Thursday that they can either “be part of the problem or part of the solution.” Facing … Continue reading →

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Move to Collin County on hold, Paxton judge recuses himself

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Stay with me here. The Harris County state district judge who handed Attorney General Ken Paxton a big win by moving his criminal case back to Collin County two weeks ago is now recusing himself because Paxton’s office is representing … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

No State Fair for you

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Sorry, Big Tex. The State Fair of Texas, slated for this fall, was canceled Tuesday because of ongoing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, fair organizers said in a public statement. “One of the greatest aspects of the Fair … Continue reading →

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Greg Abbott has no one to blame but himself

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s be very clear about this. Gov. Greg Abbott is under increasing political fire from fellow Republicans as well as Democrats as he responds to a sharp rise in coronavirus deaths — a record 112 on Wednesday and 106 on … Continue reading →

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Dems ask some Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from convention appeal

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Stay with me here, this will all make sense. The Texas Democratic Party on Friday called for four of the state’s nine Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from a case involving the Texas Republican Party’s in-person convention, claiming each … Continue reading →

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How can you vote if you currently have coronavirus?

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There is one way, if it is approved. Thousands of Harris County voters who recently have tested positive for coronavirus and now are quarantined should be allowed to vote online in the primary runoff election, County Attorney Vince Ryan argued … Continue reading →

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Will college football shift to the spring?

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. [Dell] Billings, who graduated from A&M in 1995, also realizes it’s looking more like the brakes are about to be mashed on any “full speed ahead” approach, perhaps within a few weeks. “I can’t see how we would be … Continue reading →

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GOP sues over cancelled convention

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

As the night follows the day. The Texas Republican Party on Thursday sued Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston First Corp. for canceling the party’s in-person convention that was scheduled for next week in downtown Houston. The lawsuit, filed in Harris … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

HISD being investigated over special education

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Flagging this for later discussion. Texas Education Agency officials are deep into a wide-ranging investigation of Houston ISD’s special education department, examining whether district staff violated numerous federal laws and state rules that help ensure students with disabilities get vital … Continue reading →

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A new homelessness initiative

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Harris County Commissioners Court voted unanimously on Tuesday to authorize $18 million for a two-year program serving the homeless as advocates project a rise in homelessness with the novel coronavirus. The program is the county’s most ambitious partnership with … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Thursday: In which I get a look at the vote rosters

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

What’s a vote roster, you say? It’s a detailed list of everyone who voted in a particular election. You can find some recent ones, mostly pertaining to the 2020 elections so far, here. I’ve used the rosters from past elections … Continue reading →

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Abbott’s approval rating

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This has gotten a bit of chatter, so let’s take a closer look. We released the remaining results of the June 2020 UT/Texas Politics Project Poll today. This post focuses on Texans’ assessment of the state’s political leaders, the state … Continue reading →

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City cancels Republican convention

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. Mayor Sylvester Turner announced on Wednesday that the city has canceled the Texas Republican Party’s in-person state convention in downtown Houston next week. Houston First, the public nonprofit that serves as the city’s convention arm, sent a letter … Continue reading →

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Schools are going to reopen, like it or not

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s gonna be crazy. Texas public school districts must reopen campuses for in-person instruction in August to continue receiving state funding, unless the governor issues a school closure order or a confirmed case of COVID-19 on an individual campus forces … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of July 6

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance watched “Hamilton” like everyone else as it prepped this week’s blog roundup.

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Wednesday: This is all the vote by mail we’re going to get

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to start this update off with a bummer of a legal analysis from Vox’s Ian Millhiser: The Texas case, meanwhile, is Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, and the stakes in that case are simply enormous. Texas law permits voters … Continue reading →

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A bullish take on the State House

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From Mike Hailey of Capitol Inside: The wildly unpredictable coronavirus appears to be fueling a massive blue wave that sweeps the Democrats back into power in the Texas House of Representatives with President Donald Trump as their all-time greatest ally. … Continue reading →

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GOP declines Turner’s invitation to cancel their convention

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The ball is back in your court, Mr. Mayor. The Texas Republican Party is proceeding with an in-person convention next week in downtown Houston, a rejection of Mayor Sylvester Turner’s formal request Monday to move the event online amid a … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Checking on Metro’s mask mandate

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I admit, I was a bit confused when I saw the earlier version of this story. Metro wanted to make sure its mask requirement for all passengers passed legal muster, asking a Houston lawmaker to seek an opinion from Texas … Continue reading →

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2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Tuesday: A history of Democratic primary runoffs

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday I said that the turnout so far in the 2020 Democratic primary runoff was already historic. Today I’m going to show my work on that. Herewith is the 21st century history of Democratic primary runoff turnout for Harris County: … Continue reading →

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A more extensive look at the state polls

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, I’ve been computing a poll average for the Presidential race in Texas based on post-primary numbers, meaning that I start with the April 25 UT/Trib result and go from there. As of the June 25 Fox poll, … Continue reading →

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