Tag Archives: Democratic primary

Talarico’s path to victory

Posted on May 29, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the pitch. In the end, James Talarico and Democrats got the matchup they had been salivating over for months. Within two hours of Ken Paxton’s GOP primary win on Tuesday, Talarico had hauled in $600,000 — the strongest two … Continue reading →

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Some early thoughts about the 2026 primary runoffs

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

A few of my thoughts and a few from other people… – There were 114,059 votes cast in the Democratic runoff in Harris County, with 552,678 in the Lite Guv race. (There’s no way I can see to get the … Continue reading →

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Primary runoff results: Statewide

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

This was a total anti-climax. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated veteran U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP runoff Tuesday, toppling the four-term incumbent in a fierce duel that centered on who was more loyal to President Donald Trump. … Continue reading →

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Primary runoff results: Congress

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. Christian Menefee won big. U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee defeated longtime U.S. Rep. Al Green in Houston’s closely watched Democratic runoff for Texas’ newly redrawn Congressional District 18, positioning Menefee to hold the heavily Democratic seat in November. The race capped … Continue reading →

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Primary runoff results: Local

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

As of a little after 10 PM when I draft this, I have no idea who will win the Democratic runoff for Harris County Judge. Letitia Plummer had a lead of 0.36%, which is to say 247 votes, with early … Continue reading →

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Today is Runoff Day for the 2026 primaries

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I’m basically going to rerun my post from the start of early voting, because it’s the same information with the main difference being that there are more vote centers. Turnout during early voting was pretty good in context, with more … Continue reading →

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Final EV totals for the 2026 primary runoffs

Posted on May 24, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the Chron: The state’s red-hot Republican primary battles have ignited higher-than-usual voter turnout. Going into Friday, the last day of in-person early voting ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections, almost 800,000 people had voted in the Democratic and Republican primary … Continue reading →

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I sure hope everyone has gotten the message about Maureen Galindo

Posted on May 22, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the last day of early voting, and so here’s one more opportunity to condemn our worst candidate on the runoff ballot. The Bexar County Democratic Party on Wednesday joined other political organizations in denouncing the rhetoric of Democratic … Continue reading →

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2026 primary runoff EV report, Day One

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I’m just going to cut to the chase here, as there’s only five days of early voting and my next update will be after Day Five. Here are the Day One totals for the May 2026 runoffs: Party Mail Early … Continue reading →

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Early voting for the primary runoffs starts today

Posted on May 18, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I haven’t gotten a press release about this from the County Clerk, but they’ve had their hands full and I think by now we know the basics. What you need to know is that the voting center locations are here, … Continue reading →

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Panzarella defeats Hellyar in District C runoff

Posted on May 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story, which was still preliminary as I drafted this at 10 PM. Panzarella was over 60% in early voting, and had stretched that to 64% after the first seven of 20 vote centers were tabulated. I have … Continue reading →

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Today is Runoff Day for District C

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Houston voters in District C have one final opportunity to make their voices heard. The Special Runoff Election to fill the vacant District C City Council seat takes place tomorrow, May 16, deciding who will serve the … Continue reading →

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An overview of the Dallas County precinct voting fiasco

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s Talking Points Memo with a closer look at what happened in Dallas in March and where all that is coming from. Since the 2020 election, right-wing activists have accelerated their efforts to curtail access to voting by promoting conspiracy … Continue reading →

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UH/Hobby poll: Parker 54, Plummer 36

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

More primary runoff polling. Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker holds an 18-point lead over Letitia Plummer, a former Houston City Council member, in the Democratic runoff for Harris County judge, according to a poll published Thursday by the University of … Continue reading →

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Okay, we need to say “no” to Maureen Galindo

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good Lord. San Antonio Democratic congressional candidate Maureen Galindo is facing heat after an article and an op-ed, both appearing over the weekend in the New York Times accused her of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media. In response to the reports, Galindo … Continue reading →

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Two Congressional runoff polls

Posted on May 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Make of them what you will. Rep. Christian Menefee leads Rep. Al Green by 7 percentage points heading into the final days of the runoff, according to a new poll of the closely watched race between two Houston Democratic members … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rep. Al Green

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

For my final interview of the 2026 primary cycle, I’m pleased to bring you a conversation with Rep. Al Green. He is the longtime member of Congress from the historic CD09, which was moved to the east end of Harris … Continue reading →

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Today is the last day of early voting for the District C runoff

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Runoff Day itself will be Saturday, May 16. Voting locations for both today’s early voting and Saturday’s Runoff Day voting can be found here. For what it’s worth, early voting turnout through the end of the day … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rep. Christian Menefee

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

If you live in CD18, which as of this latest round of redistricting I no longer do, you’re still in the process of picking your member of Congress. The Democratic primary runoff, for which early voting begins on May 18, … Continue reading →

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Profile of Johnny Garcia

Posted on May 8, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The runoff for the Democratic nomination in CD35 is one of the more interesting stories for May, featuring two different types of candidates who present contrasting theories of how to win this hardly insurmountable district. Here’s a story from the … Continue reading →

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Today is Election Day for the SD04 special election

Posted on May 2, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Election Day for the May 2, 2026, Special Election to fill the vacancy in Texas Senate District 4 is tomorrow. The district includes all of Chambers County and portions of Galveston, Harris, Jefferson, and Montgomery counties. There … Continue reading →

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Early voting for the May 16 District C runoff starts today

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

It’s now time for Election #2 of 3 in the month of May. This one is the runoff for Houston City Council District C, between Joe Panzarella, who led with about 33% of the vote in April, and Nick Hellyar, … Continue reading →

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Dallas gets to keep voting centers for the primary runoff

Posted on April 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good, but perhaps not the end of the story. A North Texas appeals court rejected a petition from a Dallas County republican trying to force the county to hold a precinct-specific Election Day for the upcoming primary election. The petition … Continue reading →

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Some poll news and other tidbits

Posted on April 26, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From Somos Votantes: Today, Somos Votantes released new polling data showing Latino voters in key states and districts are rejecting President Trump and Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms, driven by mounting economic pain, widespread disapproval of Republican’s tariff and healthcare policies, and … Continue reading →

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Interview with Alex Maldonado

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I promised you two interviews for Harris County District Clerk, and today we have the second of them. Alex Maldonado is a high school math and statistics teacher in Clear Creek ISD. Maldonado got an associate’s degree when he graduated … Continue reading →

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Dallas Republicans demand a return to precinct voting chaos

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Oh good lord… Some Dallas County Republicans on Monday sued the county elections department in a bid to require voters to cast ballots for the May 26 primary runoff at specific polling places in their precincts rather than any location … Continue reading →

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A brief look at the runoffs

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The Lite Guv runoff is the highest profile statewide race on the ballot in May for Democrats. After busting through turnout expectations for the party primaries, can Texas Democrats keep up that momentum for May’s runoff elections? Beyond that, will voters turn … Continue reading →

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Interview with Darrell Jordan

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The main runoff of interest in the Democratic primary is for District Clerk, which is an open seat as incumbent Clerk Marilyn Burgess is not running for a third term. There was a big field in March, so I decided … Continue reading →

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April 2026 campaign finance reports: Senate and Congress

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

We are now past the primary, so we have whittled down the field a bit and gotten a better idea about how some of the candidates that we hope will be strong challengers are doing with fundraising. The January 2026 … Continue reading →

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Talarico reports $27 million raised in Q1

Posted on April 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. State Rep. James Talarico raised $27 million in the first three months of 2026 in his bid to flip Texas, according to his campaign. The Austin Democrat’s haul is the largest-ever sum for a Senate candidate — in any … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rep. Vikki Goodwin

Posted on April 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to shift my interview focus to the Democratic primary runoff, which will be the next election for most of us. There are a few races of interest, I’m going to try to do what I can with them. … Continue reading →

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Today is District C special election day

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox. [Today] is Election Day for the City of Houston Special Election to fill the vacant District C City Council seat. The elected candidate will serve the remainder of former Council Member Abbie Kamin’s term through January 1, … Continue reading →

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Maureen Galindo

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

She’s an interesting candidate. I’m not sure I want her to be the nominee, but I’m also not sure about the other guy, so. When a new owner started making improvements to Maureen Galindo‘s downtown apartment complex in 2017, she saw an … Continue reading →

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Republicans had trouble with precinct voting, too

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I know, I’m shocked too. At least 12,674 Dallas County voters trying to cast ballots in both party primaries showed up at the wrong polling locations March 3 after the county GOP forced the elimination of countywide polling … Continue reading →

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