Going to bullet point this one, with updates to come later, as most Election Day votes are still out as I write this:
– Christian Menefee and Al Green appear headed to a runoff in CD18. Menefee had a sizeable lead in Harris County, but CD18 now extends into Fort Bend, and Green led there by enough to hold Menefee under 50% as of early voting. Amanda Edwards still took in about seven percent of the vote, despite suspending her campaign. Rep. Sylvia Garcia was over 56% in CD29, Leticia Gutierrez was at almost 52% in CD09, and Melissa McDonough was on her way to a second try in CD38.
– Alex Mealer and Briscoe Cain will run it off for CD09 on the Republican side. Mealer, like Don Huffines, was the Trump-endorsed candidate while Cain, like Kelly Hancock, was Abbott-endorsed. Make of that what you will. Someone named Jon Bonck fell just short of 50% for the Republican nomination in CD38, and will be in the runoff with someone named Shelly DeZavallos. And Dan Crenshaw, we already discussed.
– Annise Parker was just under 50% for County Judge; she may pull it out, or she may have to run it off against Letitia Plummer, who was at 37%. How it is that 14% of early voters supported Matt Salazar is a mystery to me. Orlando Sanchez (26%) and Marty Lancton (22%) were early leaders on the Republican side, but the third and fourth place candidates were right at 20%, so who knows. No consensus there, that’s for sure. (Update: Parker and Plummer will run it off.)
– Abbie Kamin had a tiny lead over Audrie Lawton Evans for Harris County Attorney – I’m talking 50.08% to 49.92%, a difference of about 300 votes. That will go down to the wire. (Update: Kamin won Election Day and was at just over 51%. There are still some votes out so I don’t want to call this yet, but Kamin is in strong position to win a real squeaker.)
– Former county court judge Darrell Jordan was leading the pack for District Clerk. Jose “Alex” Maldonado and Pernell Davis were the next two in line, so I expect two of those three to be in the runoff. (Update: It’s Jordan and Maldonado in May.)
– Far as I could tell, only one incumbent judge was losing their primary, Jim Kovach for County Civil Court at Law #2. Leah Shapiro of the 315th Juvenile Court was at 53.6%, the rest all looked to be in strong position to win. Sarah Beth Landau looked to be headed to a win for Chief Justice of the 14th Court of Appeals, while William Demond and Michael Adams-Hurta appeared headed to a runoff for the other 14th Court slot.
– Rep. Hubert Vo in HD149 is headed for a runoff with Darlene Breaux. Reps. Mary Ann Perez (HD144) and Charlene Ward Johnson (HD139) were winning their races. Staci Childs and Lawrence Allen were headed to a runoff in HD131. And sigh, unless he falters in Election Day voting, Rep. Harold Dutton appears to have won again in HD142, with a not-awe-inspiring-but-still-enough 52% of the vote.
– The biggest surprise of the night was Traci Gibson walloping Mike Doyle in the race for HCDP Chair. Some people I greatly respect were at best ambivalent about this race. Gibson will be sworn in at the June CEC meeing. I wish her all the best and I hope she has a transition team already in place. I voted for Mike Doyle and I thank him for his service.
– And the biggest LOL of the night is turncoat Fort Bend County Judge KP George coming in last in the Republican primary for that office. You have to have been torpedoed real good to sink that quickly and efficiently.
– I will take this opportunity to toot my own horn: I was re-elected as Precinct Chair in Precinct 0003. I’ve been Precinct Chair since 2008, this was the first time I had an opponent. I did some actual campaigning, and I will say since the voters in this tiny little race are literally my neighbors, it was immensely gratifying to have people cheerfully say they would vote for me. More than one who I didn’t get to talk to either told me in person or texted my wife after voting that they voted for me. Gotta say, it was a nice feeling. Thank you to everyone who voted in that last race on your ballot for me.
I will post updates as I can in the morning.
UPDATE: Warren Howell, whoever he is, appears to have snuck past Marty Lancton into the runoff for Harris County Judge. Lancton was endorsed by Greg Abbott. That sound you hear is me giggling like a little girl.
I don’t vote in the Democrat primary, but I would anticipate that Annise Parker could lose her run-off, since the big contest in Harris County driving voter turnout that day will be Al Green v. Christian Menefee, and I would expect supporters of those two will also back Leticia Plummer.
Thank you for the concise recap. Congrats on your own win.
Charles “Dinosaur Christmas Lights” Kuffner was simply DOMINANT. “He’s a driving a gravy train with biscuit wheels” said one noted election expert.
Congrats!!
“Dinosaur Christmas Lights” is a true bipartisan issue. I was at Lights in the Heights last year and they were the bomb!
Congratulations on your reelection Chuck!!
Congratulations on your reelection.