Tag Archives: Election 2016

Callegari to retire

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We will have at least one open State House seat in Harris County next year. State Rep. Bill Callegari, a Katy Republican who chairs the House Committee on Pensions and the House Research Organization, said Monday that he wouldn’t seek … Continue reading →

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Devon Anderson named interim DA

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We’d been waiting for an announcement about this. Devon Anderson, the widow of recently deceased Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson, was appointed Tuesday to serve out her late husband’s unexpired term. Gov. Rick Perry announced Tuesday that Anderson, of … Continue reading →

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Perry’s empty job-stealing tour continues

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Sorry, Maryland. Gov. Rick Perry is taking aim at Maryland and its business climate — his latest effort to lure out-of-state companies to Texas. In a radio advertisement, Perry slams Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat who is considering a presidential … Continue reading →

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BGTX and Anglo women voters

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The San Antonio Current has a great story on what Battleground Texas is up to, and why more than just increasing turnout is needed to turn Texas blue. The Democrats can take Texas in 2016 if they can tap into … Continue reading →

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PPP polling miscellany

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Public Policy Polling has some additional results from its latest venture into Texas. -By a 54/21 margin Texas voters say that they support the Voting Rights Act, including 45/23 even with Republicans. Only 29% of voters say that they favor … Continue reading →

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Perry will not run for re-election

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There’s your big announcement. Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he will not run for re-election next year, creating the first open race for Texas governor since 1990 and making Attorney General Greg Abbott the instant favorite to replace him. … Continue reading →

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Rick Perry has exciting news to announce!

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

What could it possibly be? Rick Perry is inviting close friends and supporters to an event next Monday in San Antonio where he is expected to announce if he plans to seek an unprecedented fourth full term as Texas governor, … Continue reading →

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So where are the jobs he’s been trying to poach?

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There’s an obvious question to ask about this story, but I don’t see it being asked. After a couple of high profile job-poaching trips to California and Illinois, Gov. Rick Perry is planning a new raid — this time on … Continue reading →

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Taking back the Texas Senate

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Colin Strother says the Democrats should not overlook opportunities to make gains in the upper chamber of the Legislature. The conventional wisdom is that Democrats need a miracle to pick up any single seat, much less turn the chamber Blue. … Continue reading →

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Many questions at the redistricting hearing

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib: The Legislature is currently considering whether to ratify maps drawn by the three federal judges and used in the 2012 elections. It became clear during Wednesday’s hearing that the judges and the lawyers in the case agree … Continue reading →

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Abbott is gearing up for Governor

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I have two things to say about this. Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t yet said whether he’s running for re-election — but Attorney General Greg Abbott doesn’t appear to be waiting for him to make up his mind. Abbott is collecting … Continue reading →

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Another Battleground Texas story

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There are three points of interest in this Statesman story about Battleground Texas. Point One: They’ve convinced the people who most needed convincing, the money people and the dedicated volunteers. Battleground Texas quickly won the allegiance of Steve Mostyn and … Continue reading →

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From the “Simple Answers To Simple Questions” department

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Is Rick Perry the next Comeback Kid? Americans love a comeback story. Tiger Woods has clawed himself back on top of the pro golf tour after a nasty scandal involving nightclub waitresses, lingerie models and his wife swinging a 9-iron … Continue reading →

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Pushing back on Perry

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t really believe that Rick Perry is running for President again, and if he is I don’t expect he’ll be taken very seriously. I’m not even sure if he’s running for Governor again. But if he does run for … Continue reading →

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Nate Silver takes another look at Texas

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s always about the numbers. Since President Obama’s re-election in 2012, Republicans have worried about what an increasingly diverse electorate will mean for their future as a national party. Democrats, meanwhile, have started talking about turning ruby red states like … Continue reading →

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Trib poll shows Perry leading Abbott

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Make of this what you will. Gov. Rick Perry would defeat Attorney General Greg Abbott by a nearly 3-to-1 margin if a Republican gubernatorial primary were held today, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Such a contest … Continue reading →

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Battlegound Texas officially launches

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You have probably heard by now that Battleground Texas has officially launched. Spearheaded by organizers of Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 — when Republican nominee Mitt Romney handily carried the Lone Star State — a new push, called “Battleground Texas,” … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: Comparing 2012 and 2008, Senate and SBOE edition

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

To follow up on my previous examination of how the 2012 election returns looked in State House districts compared to the 2008 returns, I now have the data to look at other types of districts as well. You can find … 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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Is Hillary the key to turning Texas blue?

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe, but it’ll take more than this to convince me. The Lone Star State is headed blue — the only question is WHEN Texas becomes a Democratic state. If Hillary Clinton runs for president, she will have a fighting chance … Continue reading →

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Julian 2016?

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I have five things to say about this. Texas Democratic powerbrokers are quietly promoting rising star Julian Castro as a consensus building leader with bipartisan support as they position the charismatic San Antonio mayor for the party’s 2016 presidential ticket. … Continue reading →

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Plaintiffs want to proceed with new redistricting maps

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Redistricting: Plaintiff groups in the Texas redistricting litigation in San Antonio told the court that it should go ahead and start the process of drawing remedial state house and congressional maps for use in 2014, but disagreed slightly about … Continue reading →

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This is what a full-scale Latino outreach program looks like

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is what I’m talking about. President Barack Obama’s campaign team realized even before Romney was nominated that the growing Latino vote was the key to a second Obama term. And they acted to sew it up with an early, … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: Metro

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The first rule of precinct analysis, at least as I do it, is that you really can’t learn much by doing it on lopsided elections. The Metro referendum, which passed with 78% of the vote, is Exhibit A of this … Continue reading →

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We know the potential, but what’s the plan?

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I trust we’re all familiar with the basic points that Eva Longoria and Gilberto Hinojosa make in Politico about Texas’ potential to become a swing state, perhaps by 2016. There’s nothing that Nate Silver didn’t address, and I could just … Continue reading →

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Yet another reason to expand Medicaid

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Grits: A friend forwarded me a handout being circulated at the Harris County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council detailing a pair of studies of “Kendra’s Law” out of New York, which provides court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment to a small subset … Continue reading →

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From the “How can we miss you if you won’t go away?” files

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Perry is doing his best to make us miss him. After almost six months away from the state to campaign for president, Rick Perry has barely returned to his Capitol office since arriving back in Austin, state records show. … Continue reading →

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State objects to court-drawn maps

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office on Friday slammed an interim redistricting map proposed by a three-judge panel in San Antonio, saying the federal jurists overstepped their bounds in redrawing House and Senate district lines that could cost … Continue reading →

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Fourteen and counting

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

That’s fourteen lawsuits related to redistricting. At least 14 lawsuits have been filed against the state’s recent redistricting efforts, with more likely on the way. Every decade, Texas lawmakers are responsible for redrawing political boundaries in light of population changes. … Continue reading →

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Congressional map gets final approval

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

On to the Governor. The Republican-controlled Texas Senate approved a new congressional district map for the state Monday and sent it to Gov. Rick Perry for his approval. […] The map was approved 19-12 along party lines and without debate. … Continue reading →

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Two other views of Texas redistricting

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a fascinating paper from the Harvard Election Data Archive that attempts to project how many Congressional seats each party will win based on statewide performance. Based on the 2008 presidential election results, twenty-two of the twenty-three current Republican members … Continue reading →

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Prioritizing the target list

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

So now that we’ve had a tour of the possible targets for the Democrats in 2012, how would I prioritize them? Let’s start with the districts I’d call the Must Haves, and the Really Nice To Haves: Dist Incumbent County … Continue reading →

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Senate map is out, controversy precedes it

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Before we had a State Senate map, we had a brawl brewing over one proposed district on it. Accusing the state Senate’s Republican leaders of a “shameful partisan attack,” Sen. Wendy Davis said Tuesday that a new redistricting map for … Continue reading →

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New map, new opportunities: Harris County

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

For our last stop on this tour we look at Harris County, which provided several pickup opportunities for Democrats last decade. How will they fare this time around? Republicans started the last decade with a 14-11 advantage – they intended … Continue reading →

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