Tag Archives: Congress

CD25 poll: Roger Williams 45, Julie Oliver 43

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This is genuinely astonishing. To showcase just how extensively Trump’s decline has shifted the playing field, the DCCC shared with the Washington Post details of an in-house poll it conducted of Texas’ deep-red 25th Congressional District that finds Joe Biden … Continue reading →

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Louie Gohmert gets COVID-19

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The universe works in mysterious ways. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, he said in an interview with East Texas Now where he speculated that he may have caught the virus from wearing his … Continue reading →

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Checking in on CD21

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Thar’s the race where Wendy Davis is trying to unseat the mini-Ted Cruz known as Chip Roy, and the pundits are thinking she can do it. All signs are pointing toward a competitive race between incumbent conservative firebrand U.S. Rep. … Continue reading →

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What a Democratic House means for redistricting

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey makes a point about what a Democratic-majority State House will and won’t be able to do in 2021, in particular with redistricting. I would put the Democrats’ chances of taking back the State House of Representatives as better … Continue reading →

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How to lose a Congressional seat

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

As things stand right now, Texas will gain three Congressional seats in the 2021 reapportionment, as Texas continues to be the fastest-growing state in the country. There is one thing that can stop that, however: Donald Trump. President Donald Trump … Continue reading →

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Abandon ship!

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

LOL. During Troy Nehls’ recent bid for the Republican nomination in one of Texas’ battleground congressional districts, the Fort Bend County sheriff prominently displayed his support for President Trump across his campaign website. “In Congress, I will stand with President … Continue reading →

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CD03 poll: Taylor 43, Seikaly 37

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I expect we’ll see a fair amount of Congressional district polling this cycle. There is a single-digit race underway for Texas’ traditionally red 3rd Congressional District, according to a new poll from the new Democratic nominee’s campaign. The nominee, Lulu … 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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The cities still need COVID relief

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just a reminder, in case you’d forgotten. As Congress resumes work on a new coronavirus financial relief package, nearly 100 Texas mayors are pressing the state’s congressional delegation for more funding to address revenue losses incurred due to the economic … Continue reading →

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What Ted Cruz is scared of

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s give him a reason for it. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a dire message to Texas Republican activists on Saturday about the danger President Donald Trump faces in November here. “This is a real race,” Cruz told the Republican … Continue reading →

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More pressure on Biden to really compete in Texas

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Fine by me. With President Donald Trump’s poll numbers sliding in traditional battlegrounds as well as conservative-leaning states, and money pouring into Democratic campaigns, Joe Biden is facing rising pressure to expand his ambitions, compete aggressively in more states and … Continue reading →

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Dems could possibly win a lot of Congressional races in Texas

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It started with this: what does a biden win in texas look like? here’s how a D+1 nailbiter might turn out, if we use 2016 and 2018 as a guide → (hint: biden would win 9 currently R-held districts and … 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: 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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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 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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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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Here’s a Census data preview

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Guess what? The same trends we saw ten years ago are still trending. Texas’ Hispanic population has grown by more than 2 million since 2010, according to new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the state’s … 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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What should Joe Biden do in Texas?

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

“Win” would be my preferred answer, but it’s more complicated than that. No matter how frequently it happens, it’s always a bit startling. Ever since February 2019, polls have been coming out indicating that former Vice President Joe Biden is … Continue reading →

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Hey, how about trying that local control thing again?

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like it might be worth a shot to led Mayors and County Judges lead on coronavirus response again, since they’ve done so much better a job of leading than Greg Abbott has. As Texas grapples with soaring coronavirus cases … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rep. Marc Veasey

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

When I came up with the idea to do a series of interviews about redistricting, Rep. Marc Veasey was among the first people I wanted to talk to. He was a State Rep in 2011 when the original maps were … Continue reading →

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Early voting for primary runoffs starts tomorrow

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Remember the runoffs? It’s time we settle who our nominees are. Who can vote in the runoffs? Texas has open primaries, meaning you don’t have to be a registered member of either party to cast a ballot in a primary … Continue reading →

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We need to understand what we did wrong

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

So yeah, we need this. Two of the nation’s most influential experts on the coronavirus pandemic, both based in Texas, are calling for an independent, nonpartisan investigation of the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus. “We must prevent this from … Continue reading →

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Who needs testing?

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Not a great idea. The Trump administration is planning to end federal support for some coronavirus testing sites across the nation at the end of the month — including seven in Texas, where confirmed cases of COVID are spiking. An … Continue reading →

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Interview with Michael Li

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, among the many monumental tasks that the Legislature has before it in 2021 is redistricting. That will almost certainly be done in a summer or even autumn special session, since Census data will be delayed by the … Continue reading →

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It’s really hard out there on the restaurants

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I feel for them, but none of this is unsurprising. Celebrating her birthday in Galveston, Melinda Prince walked out of Yaga’s Cafe on Thursday full of coconut shrimp. What she didn’t realize was one of the employees at the restaurant … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Runoff reminder: Congress

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Previously, we looked at the two statewide runoffs in the Democratic primary. Today we’re going to look at four Congressional primary runoffs. There are more than four total runoffs in Congressional primaries, but these are in the districts that are … Continue reading →

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Let’s talk “meaningful reform”

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Chief Acevedo brought it up, so let’s go there. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo’s voice cracked several times and his eyes welled as he railed against the death of George Floyd beneath a policeman’s knee and implored protesters to demonstrate … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

There won’t be furloughs after all

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

A slightly confusing bit of good news. Houston will not need to furlough roughly 3,000 city employees nor cancel its police cadet classes in the upcoming budget year, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin announced during a city council budget committee … Continue reading →

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Sharing is CARES-ing

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I’m still trying to understand this. The state of Texas and its 12 largest counties are in a tug-of-war over who is responsible for handing out federal coronavirus relief funding for some small cities. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic … Continue reading →

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School districts set to get financial relief for coronavirus

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Texas will distribute the vast majority of a $1.29 billion federal stimulus package to school districts this summer, using it to deliver on a promise that schools will remain fully funded this school year despite statewide closures due to … Continue reading →

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Biden campaign says it will compete in Texas

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

That is what we want to hear. Former vice president Joe Biden is planning to compete against President Trump in traditionally Republican states such as Arizona, Texas and Georgia as his campaign bulks up in size and turns to a … Continue reading →

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More runoff debates

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In case you had not seen this, as I myself had not before Sunday. Watch Democratic Candidate Debates Here! Every Tuesday and Thursday in May, join us for our debate series: Debate Schedule: Tuesday, May 5 – Harris County Precinct … Continue reading →

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