Tag Archives: Senate

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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Early voting for the May 2 elections starts today

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Early Voting for the May 2, 2026, Special Election to fill a vacancy in Texas Senate District 4 will take place April 20-28, except for April 21, when the polls will be closed in observance of San … 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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AI and prediction markets need to be kept out of elections

Posted on April 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Ain’t gonna happen this year, though. Artificial intelligence and prediction markets have opened new frontiers in Texas politics, but one expert said the growth of platforms like ChatGPT and Polymarket is far outpacing legislative efforts to limit their impact on elections. It’s … 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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A brief history of May regular elections in Harris County

Posted on April 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, there is a special election on May 2 in SD04, which happens to be the uniform election date in May for 2026. We are not accustomed to voting in May in Harris County, especially not in even-numbered … 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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Interview with Ron Angeletti

Posted on April 6, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

About two weeks ago, I mentioned that there’s a special election on May 2 in SD04, to fill out the unexpired term of now-former Sen. Brandon Creighton. I’d forgotten that he’d resigned to take the Texas Tech Chancellor gig, and … 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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First attempt to regulate prediction markets

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

This isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but it has had some effect and is worth keeping an eye on. After two United States senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Monday aimed at banning sports futures on prediction markets, Kalshi and … Continue reading →

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The best analysis of Taylor Rehmet’s runoff win I’ve seen

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Longtime UH poli sci professor Richard Murray is doing some new writing, and he did a deep dive last month on now-Sen. Taylor Rehmet’s runoff win in the SD09 special election that I wanted to share. Here’s the key bit: … Continue reading →

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Paxton-Hancock slap fight

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Oh yeah. Bring it on. Attorney General Ken Paxton has called for acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock to be removed from office, in a fiery social media tirade responding to a letter Hancock sent accusing Paxton of falling short in his efforts to … Continue reading →

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Patrick disses Rehmet

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

This is obnoxious, but also a little amusing. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is sidelining the Texas Democrat who in January won a stunning upset victory in what had been considered a safe Republican state Senate district. The Republican did not … 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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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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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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Trib analysis of how Talarico beat Crockett

Posted on March 7, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting stuff. When U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett jumped into the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Texas, she was the immediate frontrunner. Widely known and beloved by Democratic voters, Crockett had a record of strong fundraising in the U.S. House … 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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Fifth Circuit allows drag ban enforcement

Posted on March 6, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

It’s what they do. Texas can enforce a 2023 law that restricts some public drag shows, a federal appeals court reaffirmed in a new ruling on Wednesday. Senate Bill 12 prohibits drag performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics on … 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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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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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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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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UH/Hobby poll: Parker 46, Plummer 25

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to take the easy way out on this one and just point you to the source. In the Democratic primary for the position of County Judge of Harris County, Annise Parker leads Letitia Plummer among likely voters by … Continue reading →

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A few primary resources for you

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Early voting is underway, and there are a lot of races to think about. If you’re still pondering some of them, here are a few guides to help you along the way. You can find all of the Houston Chronicle’s … Continue reading →

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Council approves bonds for GRB renovation and expansion

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

More big construction on its way. Houston officials passed $2 billion in bonds to move forward with plans to expand the George R. Brown Convention Center. The bonds – worth $250 million, $150 million, $1.3 billion and $300 million – … Continue reading →

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