One of Santa’s election elves came by on Friday with a delivery of Harris County precinct data for the 2011 runoff elections. You can guess how I spent some of my weekend. Before I launch into the numbers, here are a few caveats about them. First and foremost, this is the first election under the [...]
Posts Tagged ‘At Large #2’
Don’t draw broad conclusions from muddled evidence
I have a number of issues with the analysis presented in this Chron story about what happened in the runoffs and What It All Means. The results illustrate a continuation of a national trend of anger and frustration toward government during the worst economic stretch since the Great Depression, political observers said. In short: Voters [...]
Christie, Burks, Davis, Brown
Those are your runoff winners. Jack Christie’s victory was the most dramatic, coming in his fifth attempt to defeat Jolanda Jones, an opponent he had forced into multiple runoff elections. Helena Brown was the other candidate who beat an incumbent, defeating Brenda Stardig by a 10 percent margin for the District A seat, according to [...]
Runoff overview: At Large #2
For a guy who’s run multiple campaigns for Council – more than he can remember – Andrew Burks is somewhat of a cipher. Let’s see what the Chron overview of the At Large #2 runoff says about perennial candidate Andrew Burks. Andrew Burks Jr. is harder to pin down. He’s a lifelong black Democrat who [...]
Eight day runoff finance reports
Seven of the eight campaign finance reports for the runoff have been posted; all but Jack Christie’s were available online as of last night. Let’s have a look at them. First up, District A: Candidate Raised Spent Loans Cash on Hand ==================================================== Stardig 74,103 42,308 0 81,023 Brown 13,840 13,340 0 4,409 Helena Brown may [...]
Runoff early voting totals, Day One
Early voting for the city of Houston runoffs began yesterday, and you can see the Day One totals here. I don’t have a daily EV record from the 2007 runoffs, but I note that the total early vote from the 2007 runoff was 11,374, and the total absentee and in person votes yesterday was 4,519, [...]
Early voting for city runoffs begins today
You remember that we have runoff elections for four Houston City Council positions, right? Well, early voting starts today and runs through next Tuesday, December 6. Here are the early voting locations that will be open for the runoff. Early voting will run from 7 AM to 7 PM each day except Sunday the 4th, [...]
Looking ahead to the runoffs
The runoff election for the city of Houston will be Saturday, December 10. It’s going to be an extremely low turnout affair – as was the case with the general election, I expect the runoff to have about the same level of turnout as the 2007 runoff, in which 25,382 ballots were cast. Look at [...]
Saggy pants
I’m not much of a candidate forum attender, but I wish I had gone to this one. Half-a-dozen candidates in runoff City Council elections each made his or her case as champion of the downtrodden before a mostly black and Latino audience at a Fifth Ward church on Saturday afternoon. Council aide Alvin Byrd faces [...]
Early voting for city runoffs begins today
You remember that we have runoff elections for four Houston City Council positions, right? Well, early voting starts today and runs through next Tuesday, December 6. Here are the early voting locations that will be open for the runoff. Early voting will run from 7 AM to 7 PM each day except Sunday the 4th, [...]
Precinct analysis: 2011 At Large #2
What can you say about a ten-candidate pileup? Let’s start by seeing what the district numbers look like: Dist Thibaut Perez Burks Goss Fraga Dick Pool Griff Robinson Shorter ==================================================================================== A 15.69% 17.99% 13.94% 3.03% 6.93% 11.67% 6.41% 11.35% 9.75% 3.25% B 8.93% 6.65% 31.58% 1.83% 4.70% 4.43% 5.48% 3.93% 18.52% 13.94% C 18.49% 10.79% [...]
We won’t have Griff to kick around any more
He’s going to “retire” from his hobby of pointless Council campaigns. Michael “Griff” Griffin, Houston’s perennial candidate for City Council, admitted the unspeakable over a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. The Don Quixote of local politics recognized that he probably would lose his 10th campaign. If that really did happen, he said after pressing the [...]
More thoughts on the Council elections
One district at a time… – I confess that I did not see the District A result coming. Helena Brown did raise a decent amount of money since entering the race at the filing deadline, about $22K through the end of October, which makes me wonder how she might have fared if she had gotten [...]
2011 Houston results
Let’s go through the races… – Mayor Parker won with a shade under 51%, with none of her opponents cracking 15% on their own. Obviously, this is not a position a Mayor with no serious opposition wants to be in, and it won’t surprise anyone if one or more potential opponents for 2013 are on [...]
Eight day finance reports, part II
Finishing what I started… – Fernando Herrera‘s report appeared on Tuesday. He raised $15,835, spent $27,185, and has $242.87 on hand. There were several expenditures on signs and a couple for “Advertising” that didn’t give me much of a clue about what kind of advertising they may be – there were two items totaling $4060 [...]
Two finance report updates
Since I’ve made a big deal out of who hasn’t filed their 30 Day campaign finance reports, I am compelled to note that as of October 27, Scott Boates in At Large #1 has now filed his. Eight day reports are due tomorrow, and the last 30 Day reports before this one were filed on [...]
Endorsement watch: Costello and Thibaut
Another day, another twofer as the Chron makes recommendations in the first two At Large races. In At Large #1, they go with the incumbent: Houston City Council member Stephen Costello, an engineer, is best known as the force behind Rebuild Houston, the initiative to upgrade our city’s ailing streets and drainage system. Given the [...]
More 30 day finance reports for City of Houston races
Following up on yesterday’s report, here are the interesting, odd, and questionable things I’ve seen in the rest of the 30 day campaign finance reports. Mayor Parker raised $469K, spent $526K, and maintained $2.3 million on hand. She appears to be gearing up to start airing ads – I saw two expenditures totaling nearly $49K [...]
30 day finance reports for City of Houston races
The 30 day campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections were due last week, and they are now mostly up on the city’s campaign finance report website, with a large number showing up today. Already I’m seeing questionable, curious, and interesting things in the reports. Some highlights so far: Helena Brown, the late-filing candidate [...]
“Litter on a stick”
I think the saddest thing about this story is that it’s basically the only mainstream media coverage the At Large #2 race has received. Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced a crackdown on so-called bandit signs Wednesday, pledging to issue fines to political candidates and others who illegally post their signs on city land. The announcement [...]
Interview with Kristi Thibaut
We conclude our tour of the At Large #2 field with Kristi Thibaut, who was the State Representative for HD133 from 2009 to 2011. Thibaut has worked for Continental Airlines and as a fundraiser for non-profits such as the American Heart Association. She was also the first Executive Director of the Texas Youth Hunting Association. [...]
Interview with Bolivar Fraga
Next up for At Large #2 is Bolivar “Bo” Fraga, who is the son of former City Council member Felix Fraga. Fraga is a graduate of the Air Force Academy who spent more than six years on active duty, including service in Afghanistan and as an Intelligence Officer. He currently works as the Community Developer [...]
Another overview of the candidates
The Chron has another overview of the lineup for City Council and Mayor. This time, as far as I can tell, the slate they provide matches exactly the candidates listed on the City Secretary’s page. It also has a bit more information about some of the candidates, noting who has held or run for office [...]
Interview with David Robinson
We continue our tour of At Large #2 with David Robinson, who is an architect and neighborhood activist. Robinson has served on the Houston Planning Commission and is currently an Advisory Board Member on the Hermann Park Conservancy. He is a former President of Super Neighborhood 24, and is the current President of the Super [...]
Interview with Eric Dick
Next up in At Large #2 is Eric Dick, who is an attorney that runs his own firm after having spent time in the Attorney General and District Attorney’s offices. You’ve probably seen his campaign signs around the city; they’ve been in the news recently. We discussed that and other issues in the interview: Download [...]
Interview with Jenifer Rene Pool
We now turn our attention to the last open seat for this year, At Large #2, where a diverse group of candidates are vying to succeed CM Sue Lovell. First up is Jenifer Rene Pool, a community activist and business owner who serves on the Building & Standards Commission and the Police Advisory Committee. She [...]
How many votes will it take?
Nancy Sims has a lament about the upcoming city elections. What disturbs me most is the complete lack of interest I’m seeing and hearing from my friends, co-workers, students and people I encounter daily. Everyone wants to complain about the water main breaks and the streets buckling as well as the lack of recycling in [...]
At long last, HCC campaign finance statements
As you know, I had sent an Open Records request to the HCC General Counsel to get copies of July campaign finance reports for all HCC Trustees and candidates. I sent that in on August 10, and the reply I got said I would have a reply within 10 business days. Sure enough, exactly two [...]
Two more for At Large #2
Open Council seats always draw a crowd, and when there’s only one of them for the At Large positions, it’s usually a big crowd. There were already several entrants in the At Large #2 sweepstakes, and as of today there are a couple more. First, over the weekend Montrose activist David Robinson jumped in. From [...]
Our first campaign drama of 2011
I’m pretty sure we’d have had some sort of kerfuffle like this by now if we hadn’t had to redraw Council lines, which has pushed the timeline back a bit. Lone Star Strategies has dropped City Council candidate Jenifer Rene Pool as a client in anticipation of working for another candidate in the race to [...]
Don’t claim endorsements you don’t have
Seems like that lesson needs to be re-learned every cycle. We already have two examples of it this cycle. Here’s example one: City Council candidate Eric Dick apologized for advertising an upcoming fund-raiser by sending out a mailer featuring a photo of Sheriff Adrian Garcia standing with Dick in front of City Hall. “I didn’t [...]
Michael Williams followup
Between some comments I got on my previous post and some emails I received as well, I can say with confidence that the Michael Williams in question is the HCCS Trustee. In addition, it is my understanding that he intends to run for the City Council At Large #2 seat that will be open after [...]
Runoff precinct analysis, At Large Council races
Continuing on with the precinct analyses from the runoff, here’s a look at the City Council At Large races. First up, At Large #1: Dist Derr Costello Derr% Cost% ==================================== A 7,200 8,160 46.9 53.1 B 5,737 4,859 54.1 45.9 C 9,001 9,870 47.7 52.3 D 11,804 7,487 61.2 38.8 E 5,754 9,154 38.6 61.4 [...]
Initial thoughts on the runoffs
I’ll go through them one race at a time, with the unofficial vote totals minus Montgomery County for each. Once I have precinct results, I’ll go through those and do a more detailed analysis. Mayor Annise Parker – 81,971, 52.78% Gene Locke – 73,331, 47.22% This was perhaps a bit closer than one might have [...]