Tag Archives: Congress

That’s logistics

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Michael Li, on why many an elections administrator likely spent the weekend pulling out their hair: The March 6 primary also remains in place for now, but adjustments are virtually certain- even if the Supreme Court rules quickly after the … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS issues a stay

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. The Supreme Court, working late on a Friday, agreed to rule on the constitutionality of three redistricting plans for the two houses of the Texas legislature and its 36-member U.S. House of Representatives delegation, and put on hold temporarily … Continue reading →

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This is not the cure for polarization you’re looking for

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This op-ed on how to “free Congress’ mind” seems to be unaware of the fact that one of its proposed solutions is not some theoretical construct. Because most voters say they want compromise, we could also try to change electoral … Continue reading →

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Expand the Senate?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I think there’s a lot of merit to this. From state Sen. Kel Seliger, a member of the smaller-government Republican Party and an architect of the Legislature’s redistricting maps that were nixed by federal judges last week, comes this: Consider … Continue reading →

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Three for HD144, Lee for HCDE

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Since Monday night, I have heard of three people who are interested in running for HD144, the State Rep district that was drawn to favor the election of a Democrat by the San Antonio court. For the record, the 2008 … Continue reading →

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Sizing up the opportunities

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This Chron story about the new Congressional map and who’s looking at what (which ran in the Express News last week) has a lot of things we’ve been discussing, and a couple of things to point out. First, a theme … Continue reading →

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Still waiting on SCOTUS

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Responses to the State of Texas’ stay request for State House and State Senate elections were due Thursday. Responses to the stay request for Congressional elections, which was filed Wednesday, are due this morning. It’s not clear when SCOTUS will … Continue reading →

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Hochberg bows out, Gallego makes it official

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I am totally bummed out by this. The Legislature’s foremost expert on school finance and one of its top public education advocates, state Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, confirmed this afternoon that he won’t seek re-election next year. Hochberg, who took … Continue reading →

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CD35 will still have a contested primary

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It won’t be Doggett versus Castro but it still ought to be interesting. The battle for a newly drawn congressional district will pit two seasoned Democratic politicians against one another: Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Sylvia S. Romo and former U.S. … Continue reading →

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A little perspective about redistricting

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

So now we wait for the full Supreme Court’s ruling on AG Abbott’s requests to stay the 2012 elections, which by the way would only apply to the elections affected by the disputed redistricting maps. Other primary elections for things … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS asks for briefs in stay request

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We still have a few more days at least before we get some kind of resolution over the maps we will be using for this election. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop … Continue reading →

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Filing season opens today

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s supposed to open today, anyway. It may get pushed back a day or two until the remaining legal actions get sorted out. As we know, after being turned down by the San Antonio federal Court, AG Greg Abbott is … Continue reading →

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Going for the stay

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Late Wednesday, AG Greg Abbott requested that the San Antonio court stay its order implementing new maps for Congress, the State House, and the State Senate, exhibiting his usual grace and class in doing so. Not unexpectedly, the San Antonio … Continue reading →

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Modified House and Senate maps are out

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The federal court in San Antonio has now issued orders that slightly tweaked the State House and State Senate maps; the new plans are H302 and S164, respectively. The modifications are minor and mostly affect a few districts in Harris … Continue reading →

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First thoughts on the new Congressional map

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

OK, down to business. Here’s a map of the new plan, which was unanimously approved by the three judges, the 2008 election data, and here’s 2010 election data. Going by the 2012 data, I break it down as follows: Strong … Continue reading →

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Interim Congressional map is out

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a Thanksgiving miracle! Plan C220, which you can find here, is the Court’s proposed interim map for Congress. I will be looking at this, and will have my thoughts plus electoral data later.

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More map feedback

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to AG Abbott’s pitiful whining, a few other parties have been heard from regarding the interim legislative map. First, Speaker Joe Straus performs his duty as a Republican. Here’s his statement: “As the panel of three federal judges … 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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Yet another redistricting update

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Once again, I point you to Michael Li. What’s next in the D.C. case? Basically two things. The first is that the D.C. panel will issue a memorandum opinion explaining in greater detail the reasons for its denial of summary … Continue reading →

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Will we get some interim maps Monday?

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio announced Thursday they would postpone a trial over the redistricting plan for the Texas Senate so they can focus on developing interim redistricting maps for the 2012 election. Texas Redistricting … Continue reading →

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DC court denies summary judgment on preclearance

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s official, the maps the Lege drew for itself and for Congress will not be used in the 2012 election. A Washington-based federal court on Tuesday rejected Texas’ request to approve new political districts without a trial. In a brief … Continue reading →

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New filing dates announced

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The federal court in San Antonio has taken the first steps towards defining what the 2012 election will look like in Texas. A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio on Friday changed key rules for some candidates for … Continue reading →

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Interim maps and the DC preclearance case

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The federal court in San Antonio has been hearing arguments about proposed interim Congressional maps this week. Michael Li summarizes the plaintiffs’ case for why the map adopted by the Lege cannot be used, even as a starting point. Right … Continue reading →

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Redistricting action this week

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a busy week for redistricting lawsuit action, as the federal court in San Antonio is having hearings on the proposed interim maps that were submitted by the various parties to the suits. The Statesman has an overview of the … Continue reading →

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Redistricting updates

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The redoubtable Michael Li takes to BOR to bring an update on the preclearance lawsuit in DC, in which the Justice Department has strongly contested the state’s House and Congressional maps. In papers filed [Tuesday] evening in Washington, the Department … Continue reading →

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Third quarter Congressional fundraising

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib has the highlights from some of the contested Congressional primaries that are shaping up. Texas congressional incumbents raised more than $4.7 million during the third quarter of the year, but some of them face challengers who also displayed … Continue reading →

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Dan Grant forms exploratory committee for CD25

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

BOR: Dan Grant announced that he’s forming an exploratory committee for CD-25, the Congressional district that includes much of East and Central Austin. Overall, the new CD-25 includes all of Johnson, Hill, Bosque, Somervell, Hamilton, Coryell, Lampasas and Burnet Counties, … Continue reading →

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The interim plans

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Monday was the deadline for parties in the redistricting lawsuit being heard in San Antonio to file interim plans for the court to consider in the event preclearance is not granted in time for candidate filing. Texas Redistricting summarizes the … Continue reading →

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Court orders interim maps drawn

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I was just asked recently what will happen if the redistricting litigation isn’t resolved before the November 14 start of the filing period for 2012 candidates. I responded that I wasn’t really sure. Shortly thereafter, this story appeared. The federal … Continue reading →

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TRO granted for redistricting plans

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Redistricting: The San Antonio panel this morning enjoined provisions of the Texas Election Code requiring counties to redraw precinct boundaries by October 1 and to issue new voter registration certificates to voters by December 6. The panel also enjoined … Continue reading →

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TRO requested for redistricting plans

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Redistricting: This morning, MALC and the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force asked the San Antonio panel to enter a temporary restraining order to prevent the State of Texas from implementing its redistricting plans on the grounds that they have … Continue reading →

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Ron Paul got no respect

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Poor dear. Ron Paul says Republican leaders in the Texas legislature asked him how he would like his district to be changed during the recently completed redistricting process. “So they did exactly the opposite,” the libertarian congressman told Texas on … Continue reading →

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DOJ says redistricting plans purposely discriminated

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. The Justice Department said late Friday that based on their preliminary investigation, a congressional redistricting map signed into law by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry appears to have been “adopted, at least in part, for the purpose of … Continue reading →

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Changes will be coming

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Robert Miller has a look at who we know won’t be back in the Lege for 2013. It’s a list that’s sure to get longer – I’m aware of a few more rumored retirements, and there’s already numerous primary challenges … Continue reading →

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