Tag Archives: primaries

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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Second post-primary poll shows Talarico up

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the basic info, the poll was conducted by Impact Research between March 12-17, which makes it fully after the first poll we saw, both of which have Rep. James Talarico narrowly up on both Sen. John Cornyn and AG … Continue reading →

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Not-quite-final Derek Ryan report

Posted on March 23, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Turnout The numbers posted on the Secretary of State show that 2,165,744 people voted in the Republican Primary and 2,311,826 people voted in the Democratic Primary. Yes, more people voted in the Democratic Primary, 146,082 more to … Continue reading →

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The SD04 special election

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Lone Star Left reminds me of an upcoming race I’d overlooked. I’m usually pretty good at staying on top of these, but for some reason, I had lumped Texas Senate District 04 into the districts with regular elections. When, in … Continue reading →

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Dallas County will get voting centers for Runoff Day

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Hooray for small victories. But don’t expect more than that. Dallas County Republicans will agree to allow voters to cast ballots at countywide voting sites for the May 26 runoff election after a switch to precinct-based voting sites caused chaos, … Continue reading →

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Dallas Dems withdraw lawsuit over uncounted primary ballots

Posted on March 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s deal with the headline and then get into what it means. Primary ballots cast by Democratic voters in Dallas who got in line to vote after 7 p.m. won’t be tallied, after the county Democratic party Thursday withdrew a … Continue reading →

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Katy Padilla Stout

Posted on March 14, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The Democratic candidate for CD23 is Katy Padilla Stout, who is now running against an unhinged gun-humping wacko and not the scandal-plagued moderate-ish incumbent. The massive 23rd Congressional District hasn’t been competitive for Democrats since it was redrawn after the … Continue reading →

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The “number of primary votes by Congressional district” metric

Posted on March 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Noting this for the record. With the possible exception of U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, the most relieved Democrats after Tuesday’s primary might be U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of South Texas. Their relief has less to do … Continue reading →

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First post-primary poll

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

A good start. A PPP poll commissioned by Senate Majority PAC found “no meaningful difference in electability” between Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a general election matchup against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. It’s notable to us that Senate Democrats are pushing … Continue reading →

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A followup on turnout and early voting preference

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Just a couple of followup items for things we discussed during early voting, now that we have more complete data. The first was about how much of the vote would be cast early, and whether Republicans were waiting until Election … Continue reading →

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When hand counts go wrong

Posted on March 8, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

There are supposed to be consequences for this. But will there be? Calhoun County finished submitting its primary election results to the state Friday morning after county Republicans, who hand counted their primary ballots, missed a deadline in state law … Continue reading →

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The Trump-Cornyn-Paxton endorsement psychodrama

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

First, there was this. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will soon make an endorsement in the heated Texas Senate Republican primary, as Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton head toward a runoff election in May. … Continue reading →

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House ethics panel investigating Rep. Gonzales (who ended up dropping his re-election bid)

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, they waited till after the primary. The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales to investigate affair allegations with his former aide. The committee announced a panel Wednesday, a day after Gonzales advanced to a … Continue reading →

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Initial thoughts on the 2026 primaries

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

We don’t have full turnout numbers yet, but as of Wednesday some 363,826 votes were cast in the Democratic primary for Senate in Harris County, while there were 197,389 votes cast on the Republican side. About 140K votes were cast … Continue reading →

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A few followup items from Tuesday

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

This is officially my favorite story from the primaries. Texas congressional candidate Vince Shlomi, known as the “ShamWow guy,” is suing the Republican Party of Texas, accusing it of “rigging” the primary after he says the party removed his nickname from the … Continue reading →

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2026 primary results: Statewide

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

We have to start with this: The Texas Supreme Court suspended a district court’s decision Tuesday to extend voting by two hours in Dallas County and ordered that any votes cast by people who got in line after 7 p.m. … Continue reading →

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2026 primary results: Harris County

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Going to bullet point this one, with updates to come later, as most Election Day votes are still out as I write this: – Christian Menefee and Al Green appear headed to a runoff in CD18. Menefee had a sizeable … Continue reading →

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On Republican meddling in the Democratic Senate primary

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate is closing with a fierce debate that has animated it from the start: Who would Republicans rather face in November? The leading candidates, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett … Continue reading →

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Today is Primary Day

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Today is Election Day for the March 3, 2026, Primary Elections, when Texas voters will decide which Republican and Democratic candidates advance to the November general election.  Texas is an open primary state, so voters do not … Continue reading →

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A statewide comparison

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I mentioned this yesterday, so here it is. I decided to look at the most recent early voting turnout numbers I could find for the counties, and then compare them to the final turnout numbers from the 2022 election. I’ll … Continue reading →

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A history of early voting turnout in the primaries

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Early voting is over. We’ve already discussed the final EV totals, but there was something of note that I didn’t mention yesterday that I want to comment on today: Year Mail Early Total ===================================== 2018 Dem 22,695 70,152 92,847 2018 … Continue reading →

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The Eastland County hand-counting situation

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The other one to keep an eye on. Eastland County Republicans voted last fall to ditch electronic voting equipment and instead hand count all of their primary ballots. They’ll be using paper poll books to check in voters, and expect … Continue reading →

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Final 2026 early voting report: That was something

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday, the last day for early voting, was huge: Over 77K votes cast, with 51K of them being on the Democratic side. I didn’t get the report until almost midnight last night, and so didn’t finish this post until this … Continue reading →

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Two polls favorable to Talarico

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

After I published Thursday’s post about the February UT/Texas Politics Project poll that showed Rep. Jasmine Crockett leading Rep. James Talarico by a 56-44 margin in the Democratic primary for US Senate, I got a comment on Facebook saying a … Continue reading →

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2026 primary early voting Day Ten: One more day to go

Posted on February 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

One more time from Derek Ryan. Turnout Comparison Based on the data I have, here is where things stand through Wednesday: -856,191 people have voted in the Republican Primary (4.6% of all registered voters). The Secretary of State is reporting … Continue reading →

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UT/Texas Politics Project: Crockett 56, Talarico 44

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Adding it to the poll pile. Dallas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has a double-digit lead over Austin state Rep. James Talarico in the final days of Texas’ Senate Democratic primary, according to a new poll released Wednesday. In the survey, … Continue reading →

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2026 primary early voting Day Nine: Keep on keeping on

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s another Derek Ryan update. Turnout Comparison Based on the data I have, here is where things stand: -747,153 people have voted in the Republican Primary (4.0% of all registered voters). -865,385 people have voted in the Democratic Primary (4.6% … Continue reading →

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2026 primary early voting Day Eight: Beyond the point of comparison

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

We are eight days into early voting, past both of the Mondays that made daily comparisons to past elections a challenge, and you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore, because the early vote total in Harris County so far is … Continue reading →

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More on the Tony Gonzales scandal

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good Lord, this is ugly. Just after midnight on May 9, 2024, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales begged an employee, Regina Santos-Aviles, to send him a “sexy pic.” When she pushed back, saying the conversation had gone too far, the married … Continue reading →

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More deep dives on primary data

Posted on February 24, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From Levi Asher: Everyone is talking about the massive early voting numbers in the Texas Democratic primary. Through Day 5, Harris County has already seen 76,555 Democratic ballots cast, more than double where we were at this point in 2024. … Continue reading →

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The best-laid plans to hand-count ballots often go awry

Posted on February 23, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, Gillespie County. You rascals, you. Gillespie County Republicans have scrapped plans to hand count all of their 2026 primary ballots after failing to recruit enough workers — at least for early voting. The lack of manpower prompted party officials … Continue reading →

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A closer look at the EV data so far

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Derek Ryan is back with his analysis of the three-day EV numbers. Through the first three days of early voting (Tues – Thurs), I have been able to identify 303,095 people who have voted in the Republican Primary (1.6% turnout) … Continue reading →

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A useful guide to spotting AI images

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good stuff from the Trib. Misinformation and disinformation are especially common during election times, and the spread of AI-created content — such as the AI-generated video of Jasmine Crockett and John Cornyn dancing — has only made it harder to discern fact … Continue reading →

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The Tony Gonzales scandal

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a headline I did not expect to see: “Rep. Tony Gonzales accuses dead staffer’s husband of trying to blackmail him amid affair scandal”. Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio on Thursday claimed he was being blackmailed by … Continue reading →

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