Tag Archives: primaries

Still more from the Pratt files

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

What a mess. Embattled family court judge Denise Pratt, under investigation again this year by the Harris County District Attorney’s office, was removed from five more cases on Thursday by a visiting senior judge who criticized the freshman jurist’s recent … Continue reading →

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The Dew is in it to win it

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Let the attack ads begin! Despite mounting pressure to throw in the towel, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst skipped a Wednesday deadline to take his name off the May 27 primary runoff ballot, instead committing himself to an expensive come-from-behind battle … Continue reading →

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A new day for the Harris County GOP?

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Falkenberg postmortems the changing of the guard at the Harris County GOP. Now that [Paul] Simpson defeated [Jared] Woodfill in the Republican primary election earlier this week, [Rep. Sarah] Davis is hoping her past experience with him is prologue. … Continue reading →

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The name game, primary style

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, Democrats have had some issues in recent primaries with random results based on low information and name variations. Turns out Republicans have those issues, too. This year, names may have also factored in other races, including the … Continue reading →

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What will The Dew do this time?

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Go negative or go home is the strategy the pundits have selected for him. Political experts have a bit of advice for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s re-election campaign: go negative or go home. The incumbent Senate president was crushed in … Continue reading →

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Davis and South Texas

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Democrats are banking on the Hispanic vote as a key part of their strategy for finding a way back into state office, but Sen. Wendy Davis lost several heavily Latino South Texas … Continue reading →

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The Trib explains itself on its polls

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. The ongoing challenge of public polling is to reconcile popular expectations about what polls “mean” at election time with our own desire to provide the public with information about mass opinion on politics and policy. We begin … Continue reading →

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We may still have Steve Stockman to kick around

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not sure if the right expression for this is “Praise the Lord!” or “Lord help us”. Rep. Steve Stockman is down for now, but not out forever, he says. In his first interview since Tuesday night’s primary defeat to … Continue reading →

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The UT/TT primary polls were completely useless

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I expressed my contempt with the UT/Texas Trib’s Democratic primary poll result for the US Senate race last night, which they richly deserved. Sure, pollster Jim Henson admitted that “the first person to raise some money and run some ads … Continue reading →

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Primary results: Statewide

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott won easily. They never had to sweat their primaries, so on Tuesday night Attorney General Greg Abbott and Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis turned their attention to a fall election that is shaping up … Continue reading →

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Primary results: Legislature and Congress

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The big news on the Democratic side is the close loss by longtime Rep. Lon Burnam in HD90, who fell by 111 votes to Ramon Romero Jr. I know basically nothing about Rep.-elect Romero, but I do know that Rep. … Continue reading →

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Primary results: Harris County

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The big news here is that there were no surprises on the Democratic side, in particular no unpleasant surprises. By far the best news was that Kim Ogg easily bested Lloyd Oliver in the primary for DA, with over 70% … Continue reading →

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Watching election results

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to do my best to follow election results tonight, and will post updates as I can here. I’ve got family obligations this evening, and with polling locations opening late in some counties like Travis, I have no idea … Continue reading →

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Primary Day is today

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the day when we begin to get a temporary respite from the mailers, robocalls, and TV/radio ads, as the people who didn’t vote early make their way to the ballot box for the primaries. In Harris County, a … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: The Chron still loves Orlando

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

They don’t love him enough to endorse him during or before early voting, but they do still love him. [Republican] primary voters should give [County Treasurer Orlando] Sanchez a place on the November ballot. Sanchez, 62, is a former three-term … Continue reading →

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Early Voting concludes for the primary

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here are your final daily early voting totals for the March primaries in Harris County. As is usually the case, the last day was the biggest. Republicans ended up with 75,400 early votes, Democrats with 30,108; that’s about 10,000 more … Continue reading →

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Who will be the next Steve Stockman?

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

No one can truly replace Steve Stockman, one of the most gifted performance artists that the Congress has ever seen, but many are trying to win his now-vacated seat. In some ways no one can replace Steve Stockman, who chose … Continue reading →

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The UT/TT poll’s track record in past Democratic primaries

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The one result in that UT/TT poll from Monday that has people freaking out is the one that shows nutball LaRouchie Kesha Rogers leading the Senate race with 35%, followed by David Alameel with 27%. I expressed my skepticism of … Continue reading →

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UT/TT poll: Abbott 47, Davis 36

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib publishes its second poll of the Texas gubernatorial race. After what are shaping up to be easy primary wins in March for the leading gubernatorial candidates, Republican Greg Abbott starts the general election race for governor with an … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: The remaining judicial races

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron finishes off the contested judicial primaries. 246th Family District Court: Julia Maldonado In a race between two qualified candidates, we encourage voters to go with Julia Maldonado. Her goals of a quicker docket and a more welcoming staff … Continue reading →

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First day of early voting

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here are the Day One primary early voting totals, which was reasonably heavy and which went according to prediction, with most of the votes on the Republican side. The Chron preview story lays it out. Early voting for the March … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of Harris County GOP Chair race

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This race has provided quite a bit of entertainment for us armchair types. The race to head the Harris County Republican Party is about as far down the ballot as you can get. As such, it typically generates neither news … Continue reading →

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Early voting begins tomorrow for the March 4 primary

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s that time again. Here’s a message from County Clerk Stan Stanart, via the inbox: As early voting gets underway for the March 4, 2014 Democratic and Republican Party Primary Elections, Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart reminds voters that photo … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Kim Ogg for DA

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Chronicle gives a ringing endorsement to Kim Ogg in the Democratic primary for District Attorney. Ogg has experience as a board-certified felony prosecutor, but she also has the broad view that comes from serving as director of Houston’s first … Continue reading →

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Gallup’s poll of Latinos in Texas

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this. Texas Hispanics are decidedly Democratic in their political party preferences, 46% to 27%, but that 19-percentage-point Democratic advantage is much smaller in Texas than the average 30-point gap Democrats enjoy among the … Continue reading →

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Pay no attention to Mark Jones

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This is a really bad idea. At least for the time being, the Republican primary is the decisive election for the governance of Texas. In contrast, the most pressing issue facing Houston-area Democratic primary voters will be whether they prefer … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: EQTx for Davis

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Sarah Davis, that is. A gay rights group Tuesday backed its first Texas Republican in a primary election, for better or worse. State Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, will find out in March if the endorsement, from Equality Texas, … Continue reading →

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Chron overviews of the other candidates for Governor

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

On the Republican side, everybody wants to be the next coming of Ted Cruz. As Attorney General Greg Abbott sweeps toward the GOP nomination for governor, other Republicans are reminding voters that he’s not alone in the party primary. Waging … Continue reading →

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How to assess the odds in HD134

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Texpatriate informs us that two-term Rep. Sarah Davis will be getting a primary challenger in HD134 – Bonnie Parker, who lost to Davis in the 2010 primary, and who will unsurprisingly be attacking Davis from the right. There are three … Continue reading →

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Messing with the primaries

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s like deja vu all over again. State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has filed a bill to move up the primary one month in even-numbered years, to the first Tuesday in February. Patrick said people in both parties should support … Continue reading →

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Congressional runoff stories

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

A couple of Chron stories about area Congressional primary runoffs for your perusal. CD14: Sometimes [CD14 GOP candidate Randy Weber] mentions that he was designated the most conservative member of the Texas House during his two terms in Austin. “We … Continue reading →

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Devine versus Medina

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

So why did onetime District Court Judge and frequent candidate John Devine decide to challenge Supreme Court Justice David Medina in this year’s GOP primary? A couple of his colleagues in Harris County offer a reason that isn’t very flattering. … Continue reading →

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California-style primaries

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’m deeply skeptical of this. In 2010, California voters approved getting rid of party-based primaries and adopting a “top-two” set-up, sometimes called a jungle primary. This month, the state tried the new primary model in which candidates of all parties … Continue reading →

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