Tag Archives: TDP

Endorsement watch: TDP candidates in May elections

From the inbox: AUSTIN, Texas — As early voting begins today for the May 6 municipal elections across Texas, the Texas Democratic Party is releasing its list of endorsed candidates: Dr. Staci Barker, Lewisville ISD, Board of Trustees Place 7 … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

One weird trick for maybe doing better with the next election

The Texas Democratic Party does another election post-mortem. The odds were more stacked than usual against Texas Democrats this election cycle, with an unpopular president from their party going against them. Yet there was still hope and cautious optimism within … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

GOP seeks to knock Libertarians off the ballot

They tried this in 2020 with no success, but might be better positioned this year. Texas Republicans have filed a petition to knock 23 Libertarian candidates off the November ballot for not paying their filing fees. On August 8, 23 … Continue reading

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Texas Two-Step (TM)

What a tale. After two years experimenting with an old Persian family technique using grains and raisins, Ali Ansari finally nailed his new vodka recipe. He poured $4 million into building a distillery outside of Houston and branded his drink … Continue reading

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Hinojosa retains TDP chair

It’s fine. Gilberto Hinojosa won reelection as chairman of the Texas Democratic Party on Saturday, defeating two challengers who sought to tap into members’ simmering frustrations over a lack of progress in the state, especially after their disappointing 2020 election. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

TDP officially applies for early primary status

They’ll have a lot of competition. More than a dozen states and at least one territory are applying to be among the first to vote for Democrats’ next presidential nominee — with the biggest pile-up coming out of the Midwest, … Continue reading

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I’m not sure I want us to be an early Presidential primary state

We’re pretty early already. I’m fine with that. The Texas Democratic Party is planning to apply to be one of the first states to vote on the 2024 presidential nomination. The Democratic National Committee recently decided to allow new states … Continue reading

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I really don’t want to have to pay attention to the race for TDP Chair

But I suppose I have to make note of this. The race for Texas Democratic Party chair is being roiled by allegations that a challenger, Kim Olson, pushed the party’s top staffer during a bus tour in 2018. Olson denies … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A trifecta of crap from the Fifth Circuit

It’s what they do. A federal appeals court has ruled for Texas in three lawsuits challenging the state’s voting laws, including mail-in ballot provisions and the elimination of straight-ticket voting. In a series of 2-1 rulings Wednesday evening, a panel … Continue reading

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On the campaign trail again

It’s good to be back. In the 2020 election cycle, many campaigns in Texas went fully virtual as the coronavirus pandemic, then a new and uncertain threat, bore down on the state. They held virtual rallies, phone banks and fundraisers, … Continue reading

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Kim Olson running for TDP Chair

Of interest. A retired Air Force colonel and former nominee for agriculture commissioner is running for chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Kim Olson is the first major candidate to announce a challenge to the party’s current leader, Gilberto Hinojosa, … Continue reading

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Final settlement in Motor Voter 2.0 lawsuit

From Democracy Docket: Last Friday, individual Texan voters, the Texas Democratic Party, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) settled a five-year long lawsuit with Texas over its noncompliance with the National Voter Registration … Continue reading

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The next voter registration project

Necessary, but not sufficient. Texas Democrats’ takeaways from the 2020 election are clear: to take back our state from Texas Republicans, Democrats need to register more voters. With Republicans’ increasing extremism and relentless attacks on Texans this spring, the stakes … Continue reading

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Here’s the TDP 2020 after action report

Reasonably informative, though nothing here that I found terribly surprising. Texas Democrats have come to the conclusion that they fell short of their expectations in the 2020 election largely because Republicans beat them in the battle to turn out voters, … Continue reading

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SCOTUS rejects TDP petition on vote by mail

Back to the lower court, I think. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a Democratic bid to force universal vote-by-mail in Texas, leaving intact a state law that lets people cast no-excuse absentee ballots only if they are 65 or … Continue reading

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What is the direction of voting by mail?

It was different in 2020, but that doesn’t mean it’s permanently different. Democratic voters in Texas were more likely to cast their ballots by mail than Republican voters in the last election. Today, that may sound like a forgone conclusion, … Continue reading

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More on the TDP 2020 audit

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the final report, but I don’t have a clear idea of the objectives from this story. [Unsuccessful State House candidate Brandy Chambers’] election night confusion mirrors the second-guessing going on within the Texas … Continue reading

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TDP asks SCOTUS to review age discrimination claim in mail voting

From the inbox: Today, the Texas Democratic Party and voters filed their final brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking its review of the case filed last Spring which challenged the constitutionality of Texas’s law that limits voting by mail, … Continue reading

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TDP will review what happened in the 2020 election

I support this. The head of the Texas Democratic Party has appointed a committee to take a “deep dive” on what went wrong in the November election after a group of executive committee members wrote to him demanding answers, reforms … Continue reading

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There’s so much more money in Texas races

Item one: It’s the question that many, many people have raised — often as a joke — for years. But the combination of changing demographics, chaos among the state Republican ranks, and the ongoing struggles of President Donald Trump’s campaign … Continue reading

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And straight ticket voting is off again

No surprise, but boy are we all getting whiplash over here. Texas voters will not be able to select every candidate of a major political party with one punch, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, upholding a 2017 state law … Continue reading

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PPP/TDP: Trump 48, Biden 48

More polls. A new poll of likely voters found that President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are tied in Texas. The poll, commissioned by the Texas Democratic Party through Public Policy Polling, is the latest reflecting a dead … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, Election 2022, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Of course the Fifth Circuit paused the straight ticket voting ruling

Water is wet, the sky is blue, the Fifth Circuit gives Ken Paxton whatever he asks. A federal appeals court on Monday put a temporary hold on a lower court’s ruling last week that reinstated the practice of straight-ticket voting, … Continue reading

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Paxton appeals stright ticket voting ruling

Letting no moss grow. The Texas Attorney General’s office filed an appeal and motion to stay Saturday following a federal judge’s order to reinstate straight ticket voting ahead of the November general election. Lawyers representing the Texas Secretary of State … Continue reading

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Straight ticket voting reinstated (for now)

That was unexpected. Less than three weeks before early voting begins in Texas, a U.S. district judge has blocked the state from eliminating straight-ticket voting as an option for people who go to the polls this November. In a ruling … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit rejects age discrimination claims in vote by mail lawsuit

This is pretty much the end of the line, at least as far as the courts are concerned. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Texas can keep its strict eligibility rules for … Continue reading

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They just don’t want you to vote by mail

It’s okay if you’re a Republican, of course. As states across the country scramble to make voting safer in a pandemic, Texas is in the small minority of those requiring voters who want to cast their ballots by mail to … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Libertarians will stay on the ballot

Sorry, Republicans. You were too late after all. The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday rejected an attempt by Republicans to kick 44 Libertarians off the ballot in the November elections. Several Republican Party candidates and organizations had sued to remove … Continue reading

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More on the Republican attempt to defenestrate the Libertarians

From the Statesman: Republican candidates and organizations are asking the Texas Supreme Court to remove 41 members of the Libertarian Party from the November ballots. All of the Libertarians are ineligible to run, the GOP argues, because they failed to … Continue reading

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Voter Registration Week

It’s been going on all week, and a busy week this has been. After seeing record turnout for this year’s primaries and runoffs, Texas Democrats are striving for even higher numbers in the general election. They have a large pool … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit hears arguments on vote by mail case

One more try before it’s too late to make a difference for this year. The Texas Democratic Party’s lawyer argued today before a federal appeals court that the state is unlawfully discriminating against the majority of the voting-age population by … Continue reading

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More on mail ballots

Here’s a second story from the Trib on the attempted destruction of the Postal Service in the name of vote suppression by Donald Trump. “I think the goal of Donald Trump’s comments are to destabilize faith in voting systems and … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 59 Comments

Harris County to join TDP lawsuit over vote by mail

They do lots of stuff at Commissioners Court. Harris County Commissioners Court voted on Tuesday to join a lawsuit by Texas Democrats suing Gov. Greg Abbott to expand vote-by-mail in Texas. The Democratic-led commissioners court voted 3-2 to join the … Continue reading

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Texas Dems ramp up mail ballot outreach

It’s a smart move, with some caveats. The Texas Democratic Party [announced] Monday that it is doubling down on its vote-by-mail campaign with a goal of reaching 1.7 million potential mail voters by the end of the month — the … Continue reading

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