Tag Archives: Election 2002

Final 2024 Primary Early Voting totals

Off we go to Primary Day. Year Mail Early Total ============================== 2012 7,735 30,142 37,877 2016 13,034 72,782 85,816 2020 22,785 116,748 139,533 2024 14,661 87,591 102,252 2012 17,734 60,347 78,081 2016 20,780 110,365 131,145 2020 22,801 82,108 104,909 2024 … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Time for another chat about voter registration and turnout

Let’s do it. Texas Democrats came away from Beto O’Rourke’s surprisingly narrow 2018 defeat to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz with a simple plan: register to vote the millions of nonvoting Texans that demographics suggest lean Democrat and electoral victories will … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Kirk Watson again elected Mayor of Austin

Party like it’s 1997, y’all. In a tight race, Austin voters picked a familiar face Tuesday night to guide the capital city over the next two years as the region deals with skyrocketing housing costs and explosive growth. In a … Continue reading

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State and county election result relationships: Tarrant County

In years past, Tarrant County was a pretty close bellwether for election results in the state of Texas. From 2004 through 2016, the closeness of their Presidential numbers with the statewide numbers was eerie. But since 2018 the talk has … Continue reading

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

Some opening thoughts on the 2022 election

Done in the traditional bullet-point style. There may or may not be a part 2 to this, depending on the usual factors. – Obviously the overall result was disappointing. It was harder to see a Beto victory this year from … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

State and county election result relationships, part 1: How Harris compares

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between how statewide Democratic candidates do in Harris County versus how they do overall, and what that might tell us about the state of play in Harris County. Since I started … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The independents

Recently I got an email from a gentleman named Ted Wood, who wrote to inform me that he had successfully completed the requirements to be an independent candidate for Chief Justice of the First Court of Appeals on the November … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

It doesn’t matter what the polls say about the voter suppression bill

Here’s another poll to demonstrate why. A new survey from Rice University underscores the deepening partisan chasm over provisions in the controversial GOP priority elections bill. For example, 46 percent of Harris County Republicans polled who participated in the county’s … Continue reading

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What a Democratic House means for redistricting

Rick Casey makes a point about what a Democratic-majority State House will and won’t be able to do in 2021, in particular with redistricting. I would put the Democrats’ chances of taking back the State House of Representatives as better … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Final Totals: Democrats carry the day

Today’s going to be a numbers-heavy post. Let’s start with Texas Elects, giving us a penultimate day summary: Early voting in person ended today (Friday) for the July 14 primary runoff and special elections. Through yesterday (Thursday), 532K people have … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

2020 Primary Runoff Early Voting, Second Tuesday: A history of Democratic primary runoffs

Yesterday I said that the turnout so far in the 2020 Democratic primary runoff was already historic. Today I’m going to show my work on that. Herewith is the 21st century history of Democratic primary runoff turnout for Harris County: … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

We’re not going to get an independent redistricting commission

Nice to think about, but the set of circumstances that might lead to it are exceedingly narrow. Most of the seven states that have independent commissions adopted them by a citizens’ initiative. Since Texas doesn’t have that option, the only … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

DMN profile of Chris Bell

The Dallas Morning News did a series of profiles of Democratic Senate candidates during the Christmas break. They’re worth reading, especially since polls show many of us don’t know these candidates all that well. I’m going to post about each … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

We should have a full statewide slate

Nice. For Brandon Birmingham, a state district judge in Dallas, the 2020 race for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals started on election night 2018. As he watched Beto O’Rourke win more votes than any Texas Democrat ever had in a … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Harris County GOP thinks it can come back in 2020

They’re so adorable. Once a rock of Republican politics in Texas, Harris County has become nothing short of a nightmare for the GOP over the last four years as Hillary Clinton and Beto O’Rourke carried the county and Democrats dominated … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

How many contested judicial primaries should we expect?

We already know that we’re going to get primary challenges to at least one Democratic countywide officeholder, as County Attorney Vince Ryan has two challengers lining up against him, and DA Kim Ogg has at least one person who has … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

How good a stepping stone is Mayor of Dallas?

Stephen Young notes that being Mayor of Dallas has not been particularly helpful to others’ ambitions. If he’s anything, Dallas mayor-elect Eric Johnson is an ambitious guy. He’s got degrees from Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, and took … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2019 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On straight tickets and undervotes

As we know, straight ticket voting in Texas is now officially a thing of the past. It will not be an option in 2020, the next time there will be partisan elections. Thanks to the success of Democratic candidates in … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

What about Neal?

Ross Ramsey reminds us there is a third person in the Texas Senate race. Libertarians and other third-party candidates have never won state elections in Texas and rarely make a meaningful difference in election results, with one big exception: As … Continue reading

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Harris County 2018 voter registration numbers

From the inbox: Thank you Harris County Voter Registration Division and Harris County Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrars for your passion, dedication, and commitment in registering eligible voters! Current number registered: 2,291,037 Voters registered in 2017: 67,753 Voters registered in 2018: … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lupe and Beto

Beto O’Rourke has a year-old, well-funded campaign for US Senate. Lupe Valdez doesn’t have anything like those advantages in her campaign for Governor. Will her lower profile effort have a negative effect on his higher profile one? The race for … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Post-runoff thoughts

I suppose one’s view on Democratic primary runoff turnout is a matter of perspective. I wrote that it was way more than the turnout of any primary going back to 2006 – indeed, more than double the turnout of any … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Are Texas Republicans really worried about Trump for November?

I mean, I guess they are. They’ve seen what has happened around the country, in other elections and other red places. I don’t know how worried they are, or how worried they should be. This is a Red State where … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Beto’s big haul

Wow. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, raised over $6.7 million for his U.S. Senate bid in the first quarter of 2018, according to his campaign, a staggering number that poses a new category of threat to Republican incumbent Ted … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A look at past primaries

I think we can all agree that the 2018 Democratic primary season is already unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory. And since I like putting expressions like that into numbers, I thought I’d try to do it here. First, … Continue reading

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Would a contested primary for Senate be bad for Dems in 2018?

I have three things to say about this. A primary showdown between two well-liked and well-funded Democrats would add an extra layer of time and money for [Rep. Beto] O’Rourke and potentially [Rep. Joaquin] Castro – and could make it … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

A theory about third parties

Before I get to that theory, have you ever wondered about the people who vote straight ticket Libertarian or Green in Harris County? I got to wondering about them, because that’s the sort of thing that I think about at … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Endorsement watch: A Libertarian moment

The Chron thinks outside the box in endorsing for the Railroad Commission. Our editorial board interviews scores of candidates for political office every election year, but seldom do we find ourselves wholeheartedly endorsing a nominee from the Libertarian Party. Then … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Once again with CD29

It’s all about the turnout. On a Gulfgate-area side street lined with union halls, Hillary Clinton’s Houston field office and U.S. Rep. Gene Green’s congressional re-election outfit sit mere doors apart, a coincidental marker of the anticipated link between their … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2016 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Reps. Otto and Marquez join the retirement list

Another committee chair bows out. After a decade in the Texas House and fresh off his first session as chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, state Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, announced Tuesday that he is not planning to seek re-election. … Continue reading

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Targeting straight ticket voting

From Trail Blazers: Texas is one of only 10 states still doing straight-ticket voting but a North Texas legislator is hoping to change that. At a hearing today, Rep. Ron Simmons (R-Carrollton) told the Elections Committee that doing away with … Continue reading

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We need to understand why our voters didn’t vote

So now we know that Battleground Texas wasn’t pursuing a base turnout-increase model for the 2014 election, for reasons that have not yet been adequately explored. I’m mad about that, but I don’t want to get bogged down in that. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2014 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

On BGTX, Wendy Davis, and the future

This has been a pretty busy Christmas break, as far as blog-worthy news has gone, so in order to preserve the small illusion that I’m taking a breather and recharging my batteries, I’m just going to give three quick thoughts … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2014 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Don’t expect the Kathie Glass effect to be much

Seems like every four years we talk about the possible effect of third party candidates on various races. Usually, it’s in the context of legislative races, where some candidates have won with less than 50% in recent years and one … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2014 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments