Introduction
Congressional districts
State Rep districts
Commissioners Court/JP precincts
Comparing 2012 and 2016
Statewide judicial
Other jurisdictions
Appellate courts, Part 1
Appellate courts, Part 2
Judicial averages
I mentioned in an earlier post that I might look at election results from other cities that had their own races in November. Turns out there were quite a few of them that had their elections conducted by Harris County, and thus had their results in the spreadsheet I got. Let’s have a look.
City Trump Biden Lib Grn Trump% Biden% Lib% Grn%
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Baytown 3,879 2,394 55 21 61.10% 37.71% 0.87% 0.33%
Bellaire 4,553 6,565 115 29 40.43% 58.29% 1.02% 0.26%
Deer Park 11,192 3,622 167 39 74.51% 24.11% 1.11% 0.26%
Friendswood 5,312 4,357 144 24 54.00% 44.29% 1.46% 0.24%
Galena Park 1,026 1,614 18 9 38.47% 60.52% 0.67% 0.34%
Humble 5,084 6,274 107 53 44.14% 54.47% 0.93% 0.46%
Katy 4,373 1,918 82 17 68.44% 30.02% 1.28% 0.27%
La Porte 11,561 5,036 201 69 68.54% 29.86% 1.19% 0.41%
League City 1,605 1,196 38 4 56.45% 42.07% 1.34% 0.14%
Missouri City 457 2,025 8 8 18.29% 81.06% 0.32% 0.32%
Nassau Bay 1,433 1,003 32 4 57.97% 40.57% 1.29% 0.16%
Pearland 5,397 7,943 84 32 40.11% 59.03% 0.62% 0.24%
Seabrook 5,532 2,768 104 21 65.66% 32.85% 1.23% 0.25%
Webster 4,594 4,850 159 33 47.68% 50.33% 1.65% 0.34%
City Cornyn Hegar Lib Grn Cornyn% Hegar% Lib% Grn%
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Baytown 3,814 2,255 119 49 61.15% 36.16% 1.91% 0.79%
Bellaire 5,312 5,762 93 48 47.37% 51.38% 0.83% 0.43%
Deer Park 11,098 3,355 269 90 74.93% 22.65% 1.82% 0.61%
Friendswood 5,380 4,009 221 74 55.56% 41.40% 2.28% 0.76%
Galena Park 892 1,408 40 42 37.45% 59.11% 1.68% 1.76%
Humble 5,098 5,927 233 98 44.89% 52.19% 2.05% 0.86%
Katy 4,401 1,749 129 40 69.65% 27.68% 2.04% 0.63%
La Porte 11,361 4,743 365 108 68.53% 28.61% 2.20% 0.65%
League City 1,654 1,099 39 18 58.86% 39.11% 1.39% 0.64%
Missouri City 458 1,934 38 25 18.66% 78.78% 1.55% 1.02%
Nassau Bay 1,471 928 43 12 59.94% 37.82% 1.75% 0.49%
Pearland 5,432 7,551 190 113 40.89% 56.83% 1.43% 0.85%
Seabrook 5,561 2,545 190 43 66.69% 30.52% 2.28% 0.52%
Webster 4,625 4,541 230 82 48.80% 47.91% 2.43% 0.87%
City Wright Casta Lib Grn Wright% Casta% Lib% Grn%
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Baytown 3,681 2,306 129 51 59.02% 36.97% 2.07% 0.82%
Bellaire 5,227 5,444 142 115 46.61% 48.54% 1.27% 1.03%
Deer Park 10,894 3,355 294 109 73.55% 22.65% 1.98% 0.74%
Friendswood 5,216 3,901 253 155 53.86% 40.28% 2.61% 1.60%
Galena Park 801 1,478 45 42 33.63% 62.05% 1.89% 1.76%
Humble 4,872 5,962 247 156 42.90% 52.50% 2.18% 1.37%
Katy 4,365 1,677 141 74 69.08% 26.54% 2.23% 1.17%
La Porte 11,057 4,773 393 175 66.70% 28.79% 2.37% 1.06%
League City 1,616 1,069 49 38 57.51% 38.04% 1.74% 1.35%
Missouri City 421 1,944 38 34 17.15% 79.19% 1.55% 1.38%
Nassau Bay 1,417 898 60 28 57.74% 36.59% 2.44% 1.14%
Pearland 5,205 7,571 189 172 39.18% 56.98% 1.42% 1.29%
Seabrook 5,477 2,439 232 83 65.68% 29.25% 2.78% 1.00%
Webster 4,488 4,416 283 165 47.35% 46.59% 2.99% 1.74%
A few words of caution before we begin. Most of these city races were at large – they were for Mayor or were citywide propositions (some of these towns had literally an entire alphabet’s worth of props for the voters), a few were At Large City Council races. Baytown, Katy, and Webster were City Council races that did not appear to be at large; League City had a Council race that didn’t give any indication one way or the other. Some of these cities – Friendswood, Katy, League City, Missouri City, and Pearland – are not fully contained within Harris County, so these are just partial results. As with the city of Houston, there’s no guarantee that Harris County precinct boundaries match city boundaries, or that precincts are contained entirely within that city, so the results from the other races may contain voters who aren’t in the city specified. Basically, consider these all to be approximations, and we’ll be fine.
I had no idea what to expect from these numbers. With the exception of Bellaire and Galena Park, all of these place are on the outer edges of Harris County, so generally in the red zone, but not exclusively. I expected Galena Park and Missouri City to be blue, I expected Baytown and Deer Park and Friendswood to be red, and the rest I either didn’t have any preconceived notions or was a little surprised. I wouldn’t have expected Bellaire or Humble to be blue – Bellaire is squarely in the CD07/HD134 part of town, so while it’s not all that shocking, I feel quite confident saying that if I did this same exercise in 2012, I’d have gotten a different result. The Katy area is getting bluer, which is how Dems won HD132 in 2018, but apparently that is not the case for the city of Katy proper, or at least the Harris County part of it. I’d guess the Brazoria County part of Pearland is redder than the Harris County part. As for La Porte, it’s not that I’m surprised that it’s red, it’s more that I’d never thought much about it.
I don’t have a whole lot more to say here – I don’t have past data handy, so I can’t make any comparisons, but even if I did we already mostly have the picture from earlier posts. It’s the same geography, just different pieces of it. There’s been a push by the TDP lately to get more local officials elected in towns like these, which is often a challenge in low-turnout May elections. There clearly some opportunities, though, and we should look to support candidates who put themselves out there in places where they’re not the norm. I have a friend who ran for Humble ISD in 2017, and while she didn’t win, that’s the sort of effort we need to get behind. Keep an eye out for what you can do this May, and find some good people to work with.
THE DATA IS THE THING THAT WILL DEMOCRATS HELP TO WIN
New Year’s Day is as good as any day to give KUFF a big round of applause for keeping Texas politics junkies well-supplied all year long with daily dosages of political news and digestible compilations of data to be found nowhere else, or not easily.
Beto O’Rourke should realize what a great co-author he would have in Kuff for a textbook project on Texas campaigns and elections to accompany his limited-enrolment course offering while also being able to reach our to a much larger statewide audience. (Why haven’t the political scientists at UH and Rice yet seen the greate opportunity there?). Kuff could draw on his vast expertise and the kind of data that ultimately counts: voting data, not just survey data with all its attendant reliability issues. Richard Murray, now retired, could perhaps write a foreword to add a historical note of whence we came and where we are now.
A forward-looking book-length exposition of where Democrats find themselves on the Texas electoral landscape today, and a primer for political activism and office-seeking in the next election season, would cater to an even wider readership beyond the academic realm, especially if it were also infused with ample how-to advice that can actually be put to good use in the field, rather than the lofty stuff that gets but the ivory-tower occupants excited.
Susan Hays might contribute a couple of chapters on the Texas Election Code and its current judicial construal. She did a stellar job with the briefing on behalf of Harris County and now-ex-Clerk Chris Hollins, for which she can’t get much-deserved credit as long as the quality of the lawyering and strength of the legal arguments don’t count because the judicial Republicans use their absolute power to see to it that Democrats and Democratic-run counties will lose their legal battles. The same — alas — goes for attorney authors of numerous high-quality amicus curiae briefs, whether local or appearing pro hac vice, filed in Texas election cases in 2020. They too suffered the fate of being largely ignored.
Perhaps Chris Hollins could also be cajoled to contribute his insights as the man at the center the Harris County theater of action in the 2020 Texas voting wars, and to share lessons about how innovations to improve democracy that can be achieved against all odds in a very challenging environment.