Tag Archives: Congress

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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What the next CARES act could mean for Texas cities and counties

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Short answer, a lot. Cities and counties across Texas would get more than $29 billion from the $3 trillion coronavirus relief package House Democrats want to pass as soon as Friday. That includes more than $1.7 billion to Houston and … Continue reading →

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Here come the furloughs

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We said this was gonna be bad, right? Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, facing an economy hammered by the coronavirus pandemic and collapsing oil prices, on Tuesday proposed to close an upcoming budget gap by furloughing about 3,000 municipal workers, deferring … Continue reading →

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The bad guys will be spending a lot in Texas, too

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t get complacent. The Koch-backed Americans For Prosperity is planning an unprecedented push into Texas in 2020, throwing its support behind a slew of Republican candidates and expecting to spend millions as Democrats also commit more resources to the state … Continue reading →

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Here comes Everytown

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Bring it. Gun safety groups planning to spend millions to turn Texas blue this year are rolling out their first round of ads, which say COVID-19 isn’t the only public health crisis facing the state. Everytown for Gun Safety, the … Continue reading →

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Appeals court rules that Texas Central is in fact a railroad

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Seems obvious, but these things are more complicated than you’d think. Planners of a Houston-to-Dallas bullet train scored a victory in Corpus Christi Thursday when a state appeals court said the company — despite not operating yet — is a … Continue reading →

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Still trying to avoid total budget disaster

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

That federal money sure would help. As the prospect of mass furloughs and severe spending cuts looms over the city’s next budget, Houston officials are sitting on a pile of coronavirus stimulus money that amounts to more than double the … Continue reading →

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Chip Roy would also like you to die for the economy

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Truly, I struggle to understand this kind of thinking. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a firebrand freshman Republican, on Wednesday called for a return to economic normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to secure an “overall net positive outcome” for … Continue reading →

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Comparing the April finance reports

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In my roundup of April finance reports for Congress, I said I’d do a comparison of the 2018 numbers to 2020. I’m a blogger of his word, so let’s have that look. Dist Year Name Raised Spent Loans On Hand … Continue reading →

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April 2020 campaign finance reports: Congress

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, remember politics? You know, races and finance reports and stuff like that? Yeah, it’s still happening, weird as that may seem right now. As we are well into April, the Q1 Congressional finance reports for 2020 are in, and … Continue reading →

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UT/Trib: Trump 49, Biden 44

Posted on April 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Our first post-primary poll. Donald Trump would beat Joe Biden by five points in Texas if the presidential race were held now, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. In a Trump-Biden contest, Democratic and Republican voters overwhelmingly … Continue reading →

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And now, a few words about tigers

Posted on April 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We have a lot of them in Texas, and as is the way in this state, there’s little to no regulation of them. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas, announced on Monday that he is co-sponsoring the Big Cat Public … Continue reading →

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Turner to ask feds for some relief

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t hurt to ask. Mayor Sylvester Turner is asking the federal government to let Houston use an estimated $400 million in aid to help close its ballooning budget gap and reduce the number of expected furloughs in the fiscal year … Continue reading →

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Texas Central opponents see an opportunity

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Never waste an opportunity. Examination of a planned high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas should be halted as the country addresses the new coronavirus pandemic and the company rethinks its financial shape, 30 elected officials in Texas told federal … Continue reading →

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More on the potential delay of redistricting

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Some further details from the Statesman. On Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, all Census Bureau field operations would be canceled until June 1, and the agency would not be able to … Continue reading →

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Coronavirus and redistricting

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Big surprise. A delay in census counting because of the coronavirus pandemic could push Texas redistricting into legislative overtime next summer. Trump administration officials on Monday proposed delaying reapportionment counts and the distribution of redistricting data by four months, which … Continue reading →

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Metro will get some stimulus money

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Transit agencies in southeastern Texas are set to receive more than $300 million to stem revenue losses linked to COVID-19, federal officials announced Thursday, most of it coming to Houston. As part of the first round of Congress-approved stimulus … Continue reading →

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The digital divide

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Online learning is great, if you can get online. The lack of access to technology among students — commonly referred to as the “digital divide” — has come into sharper focus in recent weeks as school districts across Houston transition … Continue reading →

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Coronavirus is taking its toll on the Census

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The timing of this pandemic really sucks. The nonprofit Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston had more than 15 tabling events planned over the next several weeks where volunteers were going to post up at festivals, fairs and other community gatherings … Continue reading →

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Is it finally going to be Infrastructure Week?

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this: Lawmakers have been talking about striking a deal to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure for years. It might take a pandemic to finally get them to do it, and Texas officials are already … Continue reading →

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Cities and counties are going to need their own bailout

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This story is about the rough financial future that the city of Houston faces as we go through the coronavirus shutdown, but it’s not just Houston that is in this position. As Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration continues efforts to slow … Continue reading →

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The federal stimulus package includes money for elections

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

What we’ll do with it remains unknown at this time. The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package Congress is working to pass this week includes $400 million for election costs states face in wrestling with how to hold high-profile 2020 elections … Continue reading →

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Does getting to 40% make you likely to win the runoff?

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I was talking with some fellow political nerds last week, and one of the topics was the forthcoming runoffs. As is usually the case, this year we have some runoffs between candidates who finished fairly close together in round one, … Continue reading →

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Elisa Cardnell suspends campaign in CD02

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Monday morning, Elisa Cardnell, Democratic candidate for US House of Representatives in Texas’s 2nd District, suspended her campaign. She released the following statement. “When we began this campaign no one thought this race was possible. Every rating … Continue reading →

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DNC to target Texas

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. The Democratic National Committee [added] Texas to its list of 2020 targets just days before Super Tuesday, vowing to invest heavily in the state to help Democratic candidates up and down the ballot in the latest sign that … Continue reading →

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Runoff roundup

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Here, as best as I can determine, are the runoffs of interest for May: US Senate – MJ Hegar versus Royce West CD02 – Sima Ladjevardian versus Elisa Cardnell CD03 – Lulu Seikaly versus Sean McCaffity CD10 – Mike Siegel … Continue reading →

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2020 primary results: Senate and Congress

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In the US Senate primary, MJ Heger is clearly headed to the runoff. It’s less clear who’s in second place, in part because the statewide results are so out of date on both the Trib and SOS pages. As of … Continue reading →

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Six questions for today’s voting

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In some semblance of an order… 1. How will the early vote differ from the Tuesday vote? I’m mostly talking about the Presidential race here. We strongly suspect today will be a very big day at the ballot box, in … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of the CD02 primary

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Gonna be an interesting one. Near the end of a recent forum for the three Democrats looking to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a seemingly innocuous moment hinted at some friction between candidates Elisa Cardnell and Sima Ladjevardian. “At the … Continue reading →

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The people who oppose the high speed rail line still oppose the high speed rail line

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were wondering. In the same room where many mobilized against the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor freeway project 15 years ago, critics of a proposed Houston-to-Dallas bullet train promised to shoot that down, too. No matter how long that … Continue reading →

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A look at the CD25 primary

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

CD25 in Central Texas is a lower-tier race but after a much closer result in 2018 than before it’s on the radar this year and there’s an interesting primary to see who gets to take the shot at it. When … Continue reading →

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What is “safe”?

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Saw this on Twitter, and it got me thinking: For those upset about critique of establishment politics: There are D reps in SAFE blue seats who side w/ the NRA, are anti-LGBT+, and yet are protected because they advance the … Continue reading →

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Who will carry the flag in CD31?

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This primary interests me mostly to see if we can get a truly viable challenger in this district or not. No one person has emerged yet, that’s for sure. Democrats who want to be Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter’s challenger … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: The rest of Congress

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I think we are finally getting to the end of the Chron’s primary endorsements. We had the Senate and Tax Assessor, there are these four Congressional endorsements, all of which ran on Saturday, and I think the only races left … Continue reading →

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