Tag Archives: Election 2016

Zena Stephens

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations to Texas’ first black female Sheriff. While history was being made with the election of Donald Trump as president, Zena Stephens was making a little of her own in Southeast Texas by becoming the state’s first black female sheriff. … Continue reading →

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Beto O’Rourke talking about the Senate

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Another Democratic Congressman is thinking about trying for an upgrade. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, told The Texas Tribune he is considering running for the U.S. Senate. “I am,” the sophomore congressman said when Tribune CEO Evan … Continue reading →

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Checking in with Ed Gonzalez

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Also known as Harris County Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez. Ed Gonzalez will have a lot to do when he assumes the position of the county’s top cop in January. He’ll have to rein in overtime pay, manage the Harris County jail … Continue reading →

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HD105 race remains unresolved

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I hadn’t realized this was still an open question. The ballots are still out in the race for Texas House district 105 between Republican Rep. Rodney Anderson and Democratic challenger Terry Meza. The race for the west Dallas County seat … Continue reading →

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Checking in with Kim Ogg

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

That’s District Attorney-elect Kim Ogg now. Kim Ogg, still hoarse from shouting over the jubilant victory party crowd after winning her race for Harris County District Attorney, said Wednesday that her first order of business would be to evaluate and … Continue reading →

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We may never know how the state did its court-ordered voter ID outreach

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

We sure don’t know how the money was spent on it. On a television ad airing ahead of Election Day, Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos declares: “It’s voting season in Texas.” The 30-second spot tailored by international public relations … Continue reading →

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Initial thoughts: Statewide

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

See part 1 on Harris County here. The current statewide tally is Trump 52.39%, Clinton 43.34%. She received 3,848,617 votes to his 4,651,955. That’s an improvement of some 540K votes over Obama in 2012, which I certainly would have deemed … Continue reading →

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Initial thoughts: Harris County

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I’m still not quite ready to resume regular blogging. I’ve got a few things drafted from before the election, several of which are non-political, that I’ll begin to put in the queue, and a couple of ones that were political … Continue reading →

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Dems sweep Harris County

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Hillary Clinton had a 100K lead in early voting in Harris County, and increased her lead as the night went on. The only countywide Republican who was leading early on was Mike Sullivan, but later in the evening, at the … Continue reading →

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Races I’ll be watching today, non-Legislative edition

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This is my companion to yesterday’s piece. 1. SBOE district 5 I’ve discussed the SBOE races before. This particular race, between incumbent Ken Mercer and repeat challenger Rebecca Bell-Metereau, is the one that has the closest spread based on past … Continue reading →

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The new voters

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

One more data point before we get the actual data. A late surge of new voters helped Harris County achieve record early turnout and suggests that local registration drives paid off – although to which party’s benefit remains anyone’s guess … Continue reading →

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Today is Election Day

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart urges voters to prepare before heading to vote on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. “Harris County Voters can find their Election Day polling location and review the list of acceptable forms of identification … Continue reading →

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Races I’ll be watching on Tuesday, Legislative edition

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here are the legislative races I’ll be looking at to see what kind of a day it has been for Texas Democrats. After the 2012 general election, the Dems had 55 seats in the Lege. Thee Democrats lost in 2014, … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day Twelve: Nearly a million

Posted on November 6, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your final daily EV report and your updated tracker spreadsheet. The final tally from Friday was 105,005 in person votes and 2,882 more mail ballots returned. That brings us to 882,580 people showing up at an early vote location, … Continue reading →

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Asian voters are much more Democratic than they were before

Posted on November 6, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Just another trend to keep in mind. Much like Cubans in Miami, the nation’s nearly 2 million Vietnamese-Americans, including about 110,000 in the Houston metro area, have long been regarded as a shoe-in for the GOP. Stridently anti-communist, they were … Continue reading →

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Some Republican women unhappy about Sid Miller

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. For many female Texans working in Republican politics, last month’s release of a video showing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about groping women was bad enough. They have since watched in astonishment as male elected … Continue reading →

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Muslim voting

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

So it turns out that prolonged demonization of a population is a good way to get said population to turn out and vote against the party that is demonizing them. A record 86 percent of registered Muslim voters are expected … Continue reading →

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KTVT/Dixie Strategies: Trump 52, Clinton 39

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

There’s one in every crowd. Real Estate Mogul and Republican Presidential nominee Donald J Trump has surged to a twelve point lead in Texas over Former Secretary of State and Democrat nominee, Hillary R. Clinton in the latest KTVT CBS … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day Eleven: Last chance

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart announced within minutes after the polls opened this morning, that Harris County crossed the 700,982 voter benchmark setting a new record for early voters by personal appearance. With essentially two full days … Continue reading →

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Wait, who supports paper ballots now?

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Following repeated allegations by Republican Donald Trump that the election may be rigged to ensure a win for Democrat Hillary Clinton, Texas lawmakers are actively considering ways to boost confidence in the … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day Ten: Who are these people?

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Are we seeing new voters in the early voting so far, or is it all the same old same old? More than a quarter of Harris County’s 2.2 million registered voters cast a ballot in-person or by mail last week, … Continue reading →

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Sid and Donald, BFFs

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Birds of a feather. At a rally Sunday in Las Vegas, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump paused his usual meditation on the latest polls to direct his crowd’s attention to a “great guy on television today.” “His name was Sid … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of Heights dry referendum

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

For an issue that directly affects a few thousand people, this sure had gotten a lot of attention. [Bill] Baldwin is part of the “Keep the Heights Dry” movement, a group of individuals urging residents who live in the dry … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of HD135

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

One more look at a local legislative race. Novice political candidate Jesse A. Ybañez believes his focus on the people of the increasingly diverse Texas House District 135 makes him a better choice than longtime state Rep. Gary Elkins. Ybañez, … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day Nine: A brief comparison

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a comparison of where the voters who cast their ballots through the first eight days of early voting came from in 2012 and in 2016: Dist 12 Day 8 12 Total Day 8% 16 Day 8 % of 2012 … Continue reading →

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How turnout happens

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

If there are a lot of new voters turning out in Harris County this year, the Texas Organizing Project will be the reason why for a lot of them. The untapped power of the Latino electorate is one of the … Continue reading →

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The dry debate

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron hosted a mini-debate about the vote to change the Heights dry ordinance on its Monday op-ed pages. Bill Baldwin represented the status quo, for keeping the Heights (the original Heights) dry. With the stark reality of land use … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day Eight: We do have a pretty good idea of who has been voting so far

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Why such a mushy article about the state of early voting so far? Because Texas voters can use a single click to back an entire slate, the down-ballot candidates running countywide have ever-slimming chances of influencing their destinies. As polarization … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed against Bexar County over voter ID info

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

We’re still fighting this out. An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against Bexar County for misinforming voters about the state’s voter ID rules. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), filed the lawsuit Friday afternoon on behalf … Continue reading →

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BOMA for recapture

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

A group that represents property owners who would be directly affected if the recapture vote goes down and detachment results has endorsed a Yes vote on the recapture referendum. A local trade association for commercial property owners has come out … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: What’s the matter with Waxahachie?

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Donald Trump goes one for Texas in newspaper endorsements. While recent polls suggest Republican Donald Trump is just a few points ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton among Texas voters, the presidential race is far more lopsided among the state’s leading … Continue reading →

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Republicans: Still worried about the Trump effect in Texas

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The continuing story. Texas Republicans are slowly coming to grips with the unthinkable: Hillary Clinton has a shot at winning the nation’s most iconic red state. The odds are long, they say, in a state that hasn’t voted Democratic for … Continue reading →

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Election Day observers coming from Justice Department over ADA complaints

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a complicated headline for this story. Six teams of Justice Department officials will be dispatched to observe Election Day voting at 75 polling locations in Harris County as part of an investigation into allegations that the county failed to … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of HD26

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Back to Fort Bend for a look at another legislative race. Incumbent state Rep. Rick Miller can describe his political perspective in five words: “I’m a Christian, conservative Republican.” His opponent in November, political newcomer and Democrat L. Sarah DeMerchant, … Continue reading →

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