Tag Archives: Democratic primary

Dragging Dutton

Posted on May 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Richly deserved. Houston area political action groups, activists, and unions gathered outside the office of Democratic state Rep. Harold Dutton Jr. on Tuesday to call for his resignation. “It’s better if he goes now than in the next election,” said … Continue reading →

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Mike Collier gearing up again

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I was hoping he’d be back. Mike Collier, the 2018 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor who lost to Dan Patrick by 5 percentage points, is gearing up for another run. Collier is launching an exploratory committee to challenge Patrick again … Continue reading →

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Lee Merritt

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We have a new contender for Attorney General. Civil rights attorney S. Lee Merritt has announced he’s running for Texas Attorney General in 2022 via his social media pages Saturday. “Texas deserves an attorney general that will fight for the … Continue reading →

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Matthew McConaughey redux

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Again? sigh All right… Two weeks ago, in these very same digital pages, I claimed that Matthew McConaughey had shown more leadership during Texas’s devastating winter storms than Senator Ted Cruz, simply by clearing the low bar of not scuttling off to … Continue reading →

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On Judge Hidalgo’s principles and politics

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This op-ed about Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo looks at her background and her style as an elected official to explore her political future. The question remains, is Hidalgo so focused on being a benevolent wonk that she ignores the … Continue reading →

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A different focus on human trafficking

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This story might have slipped past you last week. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee — who was elected on a promise to transform the region’s approach to criminal justice — removed 36 suspected sex workers Thursday from a proposed injunction … Continue reading →

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Castro says he’s not likely to run in 2022

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Bummer. Julián Castro — formerly a presidential candidate, secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and mayor of San Antonio — told KXAN this week that it’s “very unlikely” that he will seek any elected office in … Continue reading →

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District court judges to be removed from the felony bail lawsuit case

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Hopefully, this brings us a step closer to settling the case. Harris County’s 23 felony judges are no longer being sued over uneven bail practices that plaintiffs say discriminate against poor defendants. The civil rights lawsuit against the county and … Continue reading →

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Beto for Governor?

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

He says he’s thinking about it. Democrat Beto O’Rourke has left no doubt that he’s weighing a run for governor next year. “You know what, it’s something I’m going to think about,” O’Rourke said in an exclusive interview on an … Continue reading →

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Bail reform plaintiffs want Paxton booted from case

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I for one am a fan of kicking out Ken Paxton in any context. In a strategic move that could speed up their case against Harris County, the plaintiffs challenging felony bail practices are hoping to kick two dozen players … Continue reading →

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PAC to boot Paxton formed

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

No time like the present to start the fight against America’s worst AG. Thursday, the Boot Texas Republicans Political Action Committee launched a campaign that is dead set on kicking Paxton out of office. Treasurer Zack Malitz said the PAC … Continue reading →

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“Natasha Ruiz” indicted

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

At long last, an update to the weirdest local election story of the year. A grand jury has indicted two Houston residents on election fraud charges, accusing them of orchestrating a phony candidacy of a woman that forced longtime state … Continue reading →

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More 2022 speculation

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From Campos: I was watching “What’s Your Point” yesterday and the 2022 election was brought up. Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo would face an opponent in the Democratic Primary. My friend Bill King … Continue reading →

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Felony bail reform lawsuit moves forward

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Pending the next appeal, anyway. A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the case challenging Harris County’s felony bail system should proceed to trial. Nineteen felony judges represented by state Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately gave notice they planned to appeal … Continue reading →

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Looking ahead to 2022

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing with the brain dumps, which are my post-election tradition. This is a collection of thoughts about the next big election, in 2022. As I said earlier, I take no position on the question of what effect the disparity in … Continue reading →

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The 2022 election has officially started

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

And Joe Jaworski is the first candidate out of the box. Joe Jaworski, a mediator and former Galveston mayor, is not a fan of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican first elected to statewide office in 2014. “I have … Continue reading →

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Smoots-Thomas takes a plea

Posted on September 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

A sad but hardly unexpected end to this story. The ex-judge in an orange jail uniform stood before a judge in black robes, swore to tell the truth and tried to make sense of her predicament. “My world truly turned … Continue reading →

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Green Party candidate for Supreme Court withdraws

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not an election without a bit of ballot drama. Charles Waterbury, the Green Party candidate for Texas Supreme Court chief justice, has dropped out of the race after an opponent questioned his eligibility to run. Waterbury’s withdrawal notice was … Continue reading →

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Once again with female Congressional candidates

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This is another post that was drafted in the Before Times, specifically right after the March primary. I went through the runoffs and assessed all of the races that could or would contain a female candidate or incumbent against a … Continue reading →

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July 2020 campaign finance reports: Congress

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations, everyone. Not only have we made it to the other side of another quarterly reporting period, we have also successfully navigated the primary runoffs. My next quarterly finance report post for Congress will thus be shorter, as this is … Continue reading →

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Some brief runoff thoughts

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

You know the drill here… – The Election Night Results page at the SOS shows 955,735 votes total in the Democratic Senate runoff. That number is likely to increase a bit over the next few days, as we’ll see shortly. … Continue reading →

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2020 primary runoff results: Statewide

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It was a tight race all night, but it looks like MJ Hegar will win. MJ Hegar was holding a 5-percentage-point lead over Royce West on Tuesday night in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate, according to unofficial results. … Continue reading →

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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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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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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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Three runoff stories

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just a sample from three high-profile and highly-contested Democratic primary runoff races. TX-SEN: MJ Hegar versus Royce West No two issues have impacted the Texas primary runoffs like the coronavirus pandemic and the protests surrounding George Floyd’s death, but as … Continue reading →

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Judges added to felony bail reform lawsuit

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This could be a sign that things are about to happen. All 23 Harris County felony judges have been added as proposed defendants in the lawsuit alleging that the region’s felony bail practices are discriminatory and damaging to poor defendants. … Continue reading →

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Runoff reminder: Judicial races

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Previously: Statewide, Congress, SBOE and State Senate, State House, county races. Let’s begin with this, because if you only vote in one judicial primary runoff, this is the one to vote in. An incumbent judge who is under indictment and … Continue reading →

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Fox: Biden 45, Trump 44

Posted on June 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Man, if we keep getting polls that show Joe Biden leading in Texas, we just might have to rethink where this state is politically. Texas is a tossup, as Democrat Joe Biden tops President Donald Trump by a percentage point, … Continue reading →

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The county races in which the precinct chairs get to pick the nominees

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There are two Harris County races on the ballot this year – one that was always going to be there, and one that was unexpected – in which Democratic precinct chairs will have the task of picking the nominees. As … Continue reading →

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Runoff reminder: County races

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Previously: Statewide, Congress, SBOE and State Senate, State House. There were a ton of contested county race primaries in Harris County, with all of the countywide offices except one HCDE position featuring at least three candidates. When the dust settled, … Continue reading →

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Runoff reminder: State House

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Previously: Statewide, Congress, SBOE and State Senate. There are seven Democratic primary runoffs for State House districts. Let’s have a look at what we’ve got. HD26 Located in Fort Bend County, HD26 is an open seat now held by Rep. … Continue reading →

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