Tag Archives: Collin County

The Lege is now 3/4 done with redistricting

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

All but the Congressional maps are done. They’re just plowing through it. The Texas Legislature is nearing the end of its work to incorporate a decade’s worth of population growth into new political maps — pressing forward with efforts to … Continue reading →

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The fate of the Paxton trial location is once again with the CCA

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

As you recall, the very long-awaited securities fraud trail of Ken Paxton is ticketed to go back to Collin County after the First Court of Appeals denied a request for an en banc hearing to reconsider the court’s previous ruling … Continue reading →

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House committee advances revised map

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

More changes sure to come. A Texas House committee on Tuesday voted out a revised draft to redraw the lower chamber’s districts, which will give Republicans stronger positioning in the House of the Legislature for the next decade. The committee … Continue reading →

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More redistricting stuff

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Just a roundup of some redistricting stories. We’ll start with the DMN. The new map, part of a process of redrawing legislative boundaries every 10 years, makes significant changes in North Texas, where Democrats likely will gain a seat held … Continue reading →

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The proposed State House map is out

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The last of the bunch. Texas House members on Thursday released the first proposal for a new map redrawing the chamber’s 150-member districts. The initial draft would both increase Republicans’ strength across the state and the number of districts in … Continue reading →

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A little sandbagging from the SOS on the fraudit

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Who’s running this show? In the five days since the Texas secretary of state’s office announced it is auditing the 2020 general election in four counties, local officials indicated they were in the dark about what the reviews would entail. … Continue reading →

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More on the fraudit

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

My God, Greg Abbott is a wimp. Donald Trump’s letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanding he pursue an “audit” of the 2020 election set off a “mad dash” in the governor’s office as aides sought to figure out just … Continue reading →

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So we have a fraudit

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

What a load of crap. The Texas secretary of state’s office announced late Thursday that it has begun a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 general election in four Texas counties: Collin, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant. But the statement from … Continue reading →

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First new SBOE map proposed

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

That’s two down, two to go. The Texas Senate on Monday released its first draft of a new map for the State Board of Education, which attempts to reinforce the GOP majority within the 15-member, Republican-dominated entity that determines what … Continue reading →

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First Court denies en banc hearing for Paxton trial move

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We’re at a point in the Ken Paxton criminal case where it’s hard to adequately summarize the most recent development in a headline-sized bite. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud case can be tried in his home county in North … Continue reading →

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The case against moving the Paxton trial back to Collin County just got more interesting

Posted on July 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

All right, settle in for a minute, this is going to take a bit of explaining, and there’s no accompanying published news story that I know of. Way back in March of 2017, visiting District Court Judge George Gallagher (from … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: State House district changes by county

Posted on July 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Introduction Congressional districts State Rep districts Commissioners Court/JP precincts Comparing 2012 and 2016 Statewide judicial Other jurisdictions Appellate courts, Part 1 Appellate courts, Part 2 Judicial averages Other cities District Attorney County Attorney Sheriff Tax Assessor County Clerk HCDE Fort … Continue reading →

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An alternate route to Medicaid expansion

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’m okay with this. Texas Democrats have tried for years to convince Republican state leaders to increase access to Medicaid. Now they think they have found a way to do it with or without their help. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett … Continue reading →

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En banc request granted for Paxton trial moving issue

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know if that headline makes sense, but it’s the natural next step after the special prosecutors in the Ken Paxton trial asked the First Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that would send the trial back to … Continue reading →

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Betsy Price to run for Tarrant County Judge

Posted on June 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t usually pay much attention to county races outside the Houston area, but there are some points of interest to discuss about this. Outgoing Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price is running for Tarrant County judge in 2022, attempting a … Continue reading →

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Not so fast on moving the Paxton trial back to Collin County

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The special prosecutors have requested an en banc review of the three-judge panel ruling. Prosecutors in the felony fraud case against Attorney General Ken Paxton are asking the full 1st Court of Appeals to review a decision by a three-justice … Continue reading →

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Paxton trial to head back to Collin County

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

You can go home again, apparently. A panel of three justices ruled Thursday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s felony fraud charges should be held in Collin County — where he lives — instead of Harris County, after a yearslong … Continue reading →

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More May election post-mortems

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From the DMN: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson bet the second half of his first term on these two council seats. Here’s how it looked after polls closed. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson bet the second half of his first four-year term … Continue reading →

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Why North Texas?

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib reprints a WaPo story about a cluster of Capitol insurrectionists in the Dallas suburbs, and it’s something. Hope for Trump’s return is fervent in Frisco and across the northern Dallas suburbs, an area of rapid growth and rapidly increasing diversity. … 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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Another look at how redistricting may go

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

RG Ratcliffe analyzes the geographic and political realities the Republicans face as they try to maximize their haul from the 2021 reapportionment. Rick Perry famously called West Texas—a sparse land with few trees or humans—the Big Empty. The 92,016 square … Continue reading →

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A high level look at the changing suburbs

Posted on November 20, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib takes a broad and high-level look at what I’m digging into now. Although they didn’t get the blue wave they expected, Democrats narrowed the gap with Republicans in five of the most competitive and populous suburban counties in … Continue reading →

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Counties of interest, part two: Around the Metroplex

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Part 1 – Counties around Harris Dallas and Tarrant Counties are two big squares right next to each other, so I’m combining them into one post. County Romney Obama Trump Clinton Trump Biden Shift ========================================================================= Collin 196,888 101,415 201,014 140,624 … Continue reading →

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A closer look at county races, Part 2

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Part One is here. As before, this is about taking a closer look at the counties where Democrats made gains from 2016. Collin County: Our reach may have exceeded our grasp, but it’s important to note that progress was made. … Continue reading →

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A few thoughts about Election 2020 before Tuesday

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just a brain dump, to get this all out there before we find out what happened. Let’s start with this: After the conclusion of three weeks of early voting, 9.7 million Texans have cast ballots, crushing previous early voting totals … Continue reading →

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Paxton trial move back to Collin County on hold

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Delay is the natural state of being in this saga. I don’t know why we’d ever expect anything else. A Houston appeals court has pressed pause on a ruling that would have allowed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stand … Continue reading →

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Judge sends Paxton case back to Collin County

Posted on October 24, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Pending appeal, of course. A Harris County judge on Friday moved Attorney General Ken Paxton’s criminal case to Collin County, handing Paxton a major win by placing the case in his hometown, where legal experts say he’s more likely to … Continue reading →

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Giving a motion its proper due

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, Ken Paxton really really wants to get his securities fraud case moved back to what he assumes are the warm and friendly confines of Collin County. The case was originally moved out of Collin County on the … Continue reading →

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Who knows what our positivity rate is?

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the We Still Suck At Data Department: As schools begin to reopen and Gov. Greg Abbott faces pressure to relax shutdown measures, it is impossible to determine where Texas stands on a COVID-19 metric that has guided the governor’s … Continue reading →

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No new judge for Paxton

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Sorry, Kenny. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is still fighting five-year-old felony securities fraud charges, has failed in his bid to kick a Democratic Harris County judge off his ongoing criminal case. An administrative judge in Houston, Susan Brown, … Continue reading →

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Hollins asks for some slack on when mail ballots are received

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: On Wednesday, August 19, 2020, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins sent a formal request to Governor Greg Abbott requesting that Governor Abbott extend the deadline by which county election administrators can receive mail ballots. The deadline for … Continue reading →

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Paxton (again) wants another judge on his case

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Round and round they go. Defense attorneys for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — whose indictment for felony securities fraud is now more than five years old — are again asking for a different judge to oversee the case. It’s … Continue reading →

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A whole lot of Paxton case news all of a sudden

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Brace yourselves. A Houston appeals court on Monday abated a recent decision to move the criminal cases against Attorney General Ken Paxton from Harris to Collin County, giving a new judge on the case the chance to revisit that order. … Continue reading →

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Move to Collin County on hold, Paxton judge recuses himself

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Stay with me here. The Harris County state district judge who handed Attorney General Ken Paxton a big win by moving his criminal case back to Collin County two weeks ago is now recusing himself because Paxton’s office is representing … Continue reading →

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