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 [...]
Posts Tagged ‘At Large #5’
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 [...]
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 overview: At Large #5
The fifth time is for all the marbles. Again. For the fifth time since 2007, counting general elections and runoffs, Jolanda Jones and Jack Christie are running against each other for the At-Large Position 5 seat on Houston City Council. Christie is a Republican, a resident of the Memorial City area and white. He makes [...]
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, [...]
Back and forth in At Large #5
Did you think this would be a slow holiday week? Not when there’s a runoff looming. So far this week, the Jack Christie campaign has released a letter from the former public policy director for CM Jolanda Jones that ripped her up one side and down the other. The next day, the city’s Office of [...]
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 [...]
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 #5
Last but certainly not least, the race everyone is wondering about, At Large #5: Dist Robinson Jones Christie Ryan ======================================= A 17.10% 23.61% 48.91% 10.38% B 18.80% 73.00% 5.09% 3.11% C 25.07% 30.02% 35.57% 9.35% D 14.96% 73.56% 7.86% 3.62% E 19.97% 13.73% 54.51% 11.79% F 19.44% 30.45% 37.41% 12.70% G 14.99% 14.70% 61.81% 8.49% [...]
Precinct analysis: 2011 At Large races, part 1
Here’s a look at the election returns in each Council district for the three “normal” At Large races, in At Large #1, #3, and #4. First up is #1, where first term incumbent CM Stephen Costello won a narrow majority for a second term. Dist Costello Galvan Boates Cook ====================================== A 46.25% 7.44% 28.98% 17.34% [...]
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 [...]
Your annual reminder that every vote matters
HISD Trustee, District III results, with 38 of 38 precincts reporting: Manuel Rodriguez 2,401 50.25% Ramiro Fonseca 2,377 49.75% There were 653 undervotes in this race, and turnout in the district was 11.61%. Fonseca carried Election Day by 78 votes, but had trailed by 102. At one point during the count, the Clerk had Fonseca [...]
The 8 day non-filers
Eight day campaign finance reports were posted on the city website on Monday and Tuesday. As of today, the following candidates do not have an 8 Day report available: Amanda Ullman, Mayor James Partsch-Galvan (*), At Large #1 Elizabeth Perez, At Large #2 Rozzy Shorter, At Large #2 Gordon Goss, At Large #2 Brad Batteau, [...]
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 [...]
Chron overview of At Large #5
In addition to their belated endorsement in the At Large #5 race, the Chron now has its overview story of the race up as well. At-Large Position 5 Councilwoman Jolanda Jones arguably finds herself running as the upstart in her own re-election campaign. Opponent Laurie Robinson has raised nearly four times as much money in [...]
Endorsement watch: Bell for Jones
Former Council Member and Mayoral candidate Chris Bell has endorsed Jolanda Jones for re-election, writing his own letter of support for her, which you can see here. Normally, I’m not that interested in this sort of personal endorsement, but since I noted the unexpected endorsement of Jones’ opponent Jack Christie by former Mayor Bill White, [...]
Endorsement watch: The Chron proves me wrong
I had thought that the Chron was going to endorse challenger Laurie Robinson in the At Large #5 race. I was wrong. Of the current 15 members of Houston City Council, including Mayor Annise Parker, none arouses the intense passions that Jolanda Jones has stirred in her two terms. The defense attorney and former track [...]
Endorsement watch: White for Christie
This came as a surprise to me. Former Mayor Bill White has endorsed Jack Christie for the At-Large 5 City Council seat. It is the only endorsement the ex-mayor has made in this year’s city elections. White sent out a letter explaining his endorsement, which you can read here. I have been told by the [...]
Endorsement watch: Noriega and Bradford
Another twofer, and another easy and obvious choice in At Large #3. For the past four years Houston has been well served in At-Large City Council Position 3 by Melissa Noriega. We recommend Noriega for a third and final term at City Hall. In her service on council, Noriega has demonstrated a welcome ability to [...]
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 [...]
Interview with Laurie Robinson
Concluding my interviews with Council candidates is a newcomer, Laurie Robinson, who is running for At Large #5. Robinson is a businesswoman and regulatory compliance expert in the health care industry. She has worked in the Department of Health and Human Services in DC and has also conducted audits and operational assessments for the City [...]
Interview with Jack Christie
Next up in At Large #5 is a familiar face, that of Jack Christie, who is on his third run for this office. Christie came very close to winning in 2009, ultimately falling by 1500 votes in the runoff. He is a chiropractor who has served on the Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees and [...]
Interview with CM Jolanda Jones
Our last look at a Council race is the most interesting race involving an incumbent, as once again CM Jolanda Jones faces some tough competition in At Large #5. If you follow Houston politics at all you are surely familiar with CM Jones, so I will skip the introduction. We talked about a lot of [...]
Lineup update
The Chron story that ran in yesterday’s news is now updated online to reflect the fact that CM Melissa Noriega does have two opponents, Brad Batteau and Chris Carmona. I emailed reporter Chris Moran yesterday to ask about that discrepancy, and he replied that it was just an error on his part, for which he [...]
Your 2011 electoral lineup
There are many candidates running for office this year. Some of them have a better rationale for running than others, but thankfully for them that’s not a requirement. A flurry of late filings to run for city office Wednesday filled out an election ballot that left only two Houston officials unopposed for re-election in November. [...]
Who has filed so far
Today is the first day of the filing season for Houston Mayor, Controller, and City Council. The filing period runs through September 7. You can see the list of official filers here; as of this moment, it’s Ellen Cohen in C, Mike Sullivan in E, and Larry Green in K. You can be sure that [...]
CM Jones speaks about the OIG report
She didn’t say much, however. Councilwoman Jolanda Jones said Monday she believes she “will have acted within the acceptable standards of conduct” once all the facts are out concerning an Office of Inspector General investigation that found she used city resources to benefit her private law practice and then lied to investigators about it. She [...]
Inspector General cites CM Jones
Ouch. Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones used city employees to help run her personal law practice and instructed her staff not to meet with investigators looking into her alleged misconduct, the city’s inspector general has determined. For three of the six findings, Jones could face misdemeanor criminal charges. In a June 2 memorandum to Mayor [...]
Possible challenger in At Large #5
CM Jolanda Jones gets her first announced opponent for At Large #5, but it comes with an asterisk. Physician Joe Edmonds announced today his candidacy for City Council At-Large Position 5, currently occupied by Councilwoman Jolanda Jones. “I feel there is a lot someone with my background can offer the city of Houston,” said Edmonds [...]
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 [...]