Tag Archives: runoff

Some Republicans say they disapprove of Trump’s endorsement of Paxton

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Time to put on our Susan Collins Is Very Concerned faces. President Donald Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate primary set off panic among Republicans who worry that keeping the seat will now be a more expensive and potentially … Continue reading →

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One crook endorses another

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Took his time doing it, too. President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Ken Paxton in the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate in Texas, ending over a year of furious lobbying and giving the attorney general a significant boost in his … Continue reading →

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TSU poll: Talarico tied with Paxton, one point behind Cornyn

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Time for another poll. A new Texas Southern University survey suggests the race for U.S. Senate in Texas could be far tighter than many voters may expect heading into the November election. Early voting for the Texas primary runoff elections … 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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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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Republican panic update

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, my. Texas Republicans are once again sounding alarm bells about the state’s U.S. Senate seat, saying that if Republicans nominate state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the May 26 primary runoff, it will create a drag on the entire Texas GOP ticket. … 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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New UH/Hobby poll has Paxton beating Cornyn in the Senate runoff

Posted on May 6, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

As long as they keep beating each other up, it’s all good. Attorney General Ken Paxton leads Sen. John Cornyn by three percentage points in a new poll of Texas’ U.S. Senate Republican runoff, suggesting the May 26 contest will … 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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Texas Politics Project poll: Talarico leads again

Posted on May 1, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

It’s becoming a trend. Democrat James Talarico leads both Republicans vying to face him in the November U.S. Senate contest, according to a new poll released Wednesday. Talarico led U.S. Sen. John Cornyn 40% to 33% in a potential matchup, and held … Continue reading →

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TPOR poll: Talarico leading both Cornyn and Paxton

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

This will never get old. Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is leading both of his prospective Republican opponents in a new poll of Texas’ U.S. Senate race — though the result is within the margin of error in either scenario, … Continue reading →

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Some insight into Ken Paxton’s finances

Posted on April 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Fascinating. In 2019, hostile attorneys questioned Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton about his conduct as a lawyer: Had he turned over a former client’s communications to an attorney suing that client? Paxton acknowledged that he had, one of the nuggets … 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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Kamin appointed as Harris County Attorney

Posted on April 17, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Beginning in June. Harris County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 Thursday to appoint Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin as county attorney. Kamin will be the third county attorney to lead the office in less than a year. U.S. Rep Christian … 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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Sorry, but data centers don’t need those tax breaks

Posted on April 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Let them pay their taxes. Texas will lose out on at least $3.1 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years thanks to an exemption for the state’s booming data center industry, according to the comptroller’s office. That … Continue reading →

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Dan Patrick has the blues

Posted on April 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Not the sort of thing our boy Danno usually says. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday said Texas Republicans are “going to have a tough time” holding onto their majority in the state House this fall, the latest and perhaps … Continue reading →

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Was the District C special election an inflection point?

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

An interesting hypothesis from Chron editorial page honcho Evan Mintz. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the race is going to a runoff — Saturday’s special election for City Council District C was a blowout. Houston progressives were the … Continue reading →

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It will be Panzarella versus Hellyar in District C

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The headline of the Chron story on the District C election results amuses me: “Race for Houston’s District C council seat appears headed to runoff; Panzarella, Hellyar lead”. I mean, of course it’s going to a runoff. There were seven … Continue reading →

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