Tag Archives: Battleground Texas

Voter registration numbers top 14 million

Sweet. More than 14 millions Texans have registered to vote in the November elections, the secretary of state’s office announced Thursday, calling the number a record high. The total marks an increase of 2.8 percent since the most recent presidential … Continue reading

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Sameena Karmally

Meet Sameena Karmally, whose race against Jodie Laubenbeg is important not for if she wins or loses but for what she represents. If Democrats are going to turn Texas purple, they need to do a lot of work at the … Continue reading

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Voter registration numbers are up

Some good news here. The number of Texans registered to vote in the state’s five largest counties increased by 2 percent since 2012, a reversal of the decline in total voter registrations that was seen before the last midterm election. … Continue reading

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Saving SD10 and other benchmarks

The Observer looks at the race to succeed Wendy Davis in SD10. It’s a steamy, hot summer morning in the Metroplex, and at the Dixie House, a Southern-style diner in east Ft. Worth where gravy flows like water, Libby Willis … Continue reading

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Texans Together asks for Justice Department investigation of AG and Harris County

From the inbox: Hello Friends: We recently made a formal, written request to the U.S. Justice Department to immediately investigate Texas and Harris County officials for voter suppression in Harris County (see letter here). We are asking for a federal … Continue reading

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Lyceum: Abbott 49, Davis 40

Pretty decent result that will hopefully put the “double digit lead” narrative out to pasture. Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott leads Democratic opponent Wendy Davis by 9 percentage points, 49 percent to 40 percent, according to the latest Texas Lyceum … Continue reading

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A thought about the stealth campaign

Forrest Wilder writes about the un-campaigns being run by most statewide Republicans. But now comes a new twist: the art of the non-campaign. The candidate who doesn’t even bother to put on a show, doesn’t even pretend to reach the … Continue reading

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On polls and turnout

So as you know, the latest YouGov poll came out on Friday, and it was ugly for Wendy Davis, showing an 18-point lead for Greg Abbott. PDiddie was despondent, EoW was trying to keep the faith, and Texpatriate was somewhere … Continue reading

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Davis’ internal poll

I had been wondering if Wendy Davis was going to release one of these. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis is trailing Republican opponent Greg Abbott by single digits for the first time this year in her campaign’s internal polling, according … Continue reading

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It’s about more than the Davis campaign

Gromer Jeffers highlighted something recently that I think hasn’t gotten enough attention. In her race for Texas governor, Wendy Davis’ sisters have her back. I’m not talking about her biological family. Davis is getting support from a group of female … Continue reading

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We need more mobile ID stations

From the inbox, from the League of Women Voters. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF TEXAS CALLS ON SECRETARY OF STATE TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE EFFORTS TO PROVIDE ELECTION IDENTIFICATION CERTIFICATES AUSTIN, TX – “We are deeply concerned that eligible voters … Continue reading

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Wait, there’s another special Senate election coming up?

Yes, there is. And you thought (okay, I had thought) SD04 was the last election till November. The field is taking shape for the special election next month in Senate District 28, with at least five people announcing they’re running … Continue reading

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If you read just one more story about Wendy Davis’ campaign

I would recommend you read this one, by Andrea Grimes. In four months, Texans are guaranteed to elect a new governor for the first time in 14 years, and Davis’ battle stance is appropo: She’s been under attack from naysayers, … Continue reading

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YouGov: Abbott 50, Davis 34

Whatever. With just under 100 days to go until the gubernatorial election, an overwhelming majority of voters have made up their minds and favor Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott over Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis by double digits, according to … Continue reading

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Dems prep for voter ID

It’s good to have a plan. Texas Democrats are renewing their opposition to the state’s voter-identification law, rolling out a program to educate voters ahead of a decisive few months that could see the controversial statute become a top issue … Continue reading

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What would you have done differently?

Lisa Falkenberg remembers the Wendy Davis filibuster and complains about what has and hasn’t happened between then and the one-year commemoration of it. You don’t just dust off a social movement because a year has passed and you need to … Continue reading

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The filibuster one year later

It still resonates. And I believe it will continue to resonate for a lot longer. The thousands of Texans whose screaming protest of anti-abortion legislation brought the Capitol to a standstill June 25 will mark the one-year anniversary much more … Continue reading

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On defining success

It depends on what your goals are. Suppose you were a Texas Democrat and a realist. You want your candidates to win in November and to break the spirit-killing string of losses that started after the statewide elections in 1994. … Continue reading

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Of course some people will split their votes

It’s just a matter of how many of them do so, and if the races in question are close enough for it to matter. Democrats are hoping the Republicans will eventually make some of the mistakes Democrats themselves made back … Continue reading

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UT/Trib poll: Abbott 44, Davis 32

Whatever. Republican Greg Abbott leads Democrat Wendy Davis by 12 percentage points in the race for governor, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. That result is close to the 11-point spread, also in Abbott’s favor, in the … Continue reading

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PPP: Abbott 51, Davis 37

Another discouraging poll from PPP. In the Governor’s race Greg Abbott’s at 51% to 37% for Wendy Davis. Those numbers are largely unchanged from our last poll of the state in early November when Abbott had a 50/35 advantage. Davis … Continue reading

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A grassroots fighting force of extraordinary magnitude

At least, I hope it is. Addressing hundreds of volunteers on Saturday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis highlighted her efforts to mobilize Texas voters and once again attacked her Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott, for being what she called … Continue reading

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James O’Keefe is a lying liar

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the special prosecutors that investigated the allegations by O’Keefe’s group Project Veritas made against Battleground Texas. A conservative activist’s allegations that Democratic group Battleground Texas illegally acquired voter information in San Antonio … Continue reading

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Rasmussen: Abbott 53, Davis 41

We have our first non-UT/Trib poll result for this cycle. The latest statewide survey of Likely Texas Voters shows Abbott with 53% support to 41% for Davis. At this early point in the campaign, there are surprisingly few voters who … Continue reading

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The Texas Future Project

Very interesting. High-powered Democrats from Texas and California have joined with national labor unions in an effort to mobilize out-of-state donors and raise millions of dollars to build a progressive majority in the Lone Star State that could change state … Continue reading

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Davis and South Texas

I have three things to say about this. Democrats are banking on the Hispanic vote as a key part of their strategy for finding a way back into state office, but Sen. Wendy Davis lost several heavily Latino South Texas … Continue reading

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Primary Day is today

Today is the day when we begin to get a temporary respite from the mailers, robocalls, and TV/radio ads, as the people who didn’t vote early make their way to the ballot box for the primaries. In Harris County, a … Continue reading

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BGT fires back

Good for them. Allegations that Battleground Texas broke the law during its voter registration activities are “entirely without foundation,” the Democratic group wrote in a letter to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Tuesday. Dewhurst, citing a secretly recorded video of … Continue reading

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UT/TT poll: Abbott 47, Davis 36

The Trib publishes its second poll of the Texas gubernatorial race. After what are shaping up to be easy primary wins in March for the leading gubernatorial candidates, Republican Greg Abbott starts the general election race for governor with an … Continue reading

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Yes, they fear what BGT is doing

Here’s the proof. While saying it had received no complaint against the Democratic group Battleground Texas, the office of Texas Secretary of State Nandita Berry suggested Wednesday that the group’s voter registration practices might rise to a “potential level of … Continue reading

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A closer look at the turnout issue in 2014

I wrote yesterday about turnout for this year’s election. The main problem that Democrats face this year is that turnout has basically been flat for them since 2002 in the off year elections. I began to write a post to … Continue reading

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The turnout issue in 2014

Two recent articles of interest, both about the nature of the electorate in non-Presidential years. First, via Ed Kilgore, who has been beating the drum about the volatility of the Democratic base, comes this NYT story about what the Democratic … Continue reading

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Celia Israel wins HD50 special election runoff

Congrats, Rep.-elect Celia Israel. In the special runoff election for District 50 in the Texas House, Democrat Celia Israel took the lead after early voting. Israel, a Realtor, earned 58.8 percent of the early vote, and Republican Mike VanDeWalle, a … Continue reading

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Where BGTX stands today

It’s not quite where they thought they’d be when things first started up, but that’s in large part because so much has happened since then. Jeremy Bird, Barack Obama’s former national field organizer, told The Texas Tribune that nearly a … Continue reading

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