Glad to hear it. A bill that would slash the number of days allowed for early voting is likely to be pulled after scathing testimony Monday from opponents who said the bill was discriminatory and retrogressive. House Bill 2093, by state Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring, would limit the early-voting period in Texas to seven days [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Election 2006’
The politics of refusing Medicaid expansion
Ron Brownstein posits that by his stubborn and increasingly isolated resistance to Medicaid expansion, including via the Arkansas option, Rick Perry is putting Republicans in electoral danger in Texas. Brownstein runs through the economic arguments and touches on the legislative action so far, then gets to the big finish: Rejecting the federal money might not [...]
A Republican view of 2014 in Harris County
Big Jolly is feeling pessimistic about his team’s chances in Harris County next year. Now let’s look at who will be on the playing field for us. There will be a lot of statewide action, with unknown Dems – let’s ignore them for now. Sen. John Cornyn is a good conservative senator but at this [...]
It’s the vote spread that matters
I had an email conversation with Judge Mark Davidson regarding my post about straight-ticket voting and its effect on judicial races. He said I misunderstood the point he was trying to make in that Chron story. From his email, quoted with permission: Your analysis fails to look at what I call the “Straight Ticket Judicial [...]
Pity the poor judges
It’s hard out here on a judge. For longer than anyone remembers, you had to be a Democrat to be a district judge in Texas – or just about any other political office. When the Democratic Party split apart in the South over civil rights, Republicans gained the upper hand, so much so that by [...]
Draft Julian?
Who wants to see Julian Castro run for Governor in 2014? His fellow Bexar County Democrats, at least. Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina launched a social media movement last week to draft Castro for the 2014 Texas governor’s race. Medina, who unseated former party Chairwoman Choco Meza in May, describes the push as [...]
More on Sen. Gallegos
For better or worse, we must discuss the politics of Sen. Mario Gallegos’ death this week. The first question to address is what happens next? Rich Parsons, a spokesman for Secretary of State Hope Andrade, this morning clarified the timing of a special election in state Senate District 6 if the late Mario Gallegos Jr. [...]
Endorsement watch: The Chron for Hampton
The Chron joins the DMN and the Star-Telegram in endorsing Keith Hampton for the Court of Criminal Appeals. We highly recommend that voters cast their ballots instead for Democratic challenger Keith Hampton. This endorsement is not merely a rejection of the incumbent judge’s poor track record, but enthusiastic support for Hampton’s impressive history of working [...]
Waiting for an investment
Some day, the national Democratic Party will make an investment in Texas rather than just use us as a glorified ATM. Just don’t ask me when that day will be. Texans have become accustomed to occupying the nosebleed seats at the Democratic National Convention, extras in a production that favors states that are solidly blue [...]
Oh, God, make it stop
Hell, no. [Kinky] Friedman, the singer-satirist and unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2006, says Perry is vulnerable to a challenge if he runs for re-election in two years. And Kinky knows just the challenger to beat him — Kinky Friedman. “I don’t think Perry is going to win, and if he thinks he is, he’s [...]
Runoff Day
At long last, the 2012 primary season is about to be over in Texas, other than perhaps the HCDE race. To say the least, it’s been a long, strange trip, one that I hope goes down in the books as a bizarre aberration, never to be repeated or approximated. If you have not voted yet [...]
Early runoff voting in perspective
Here are four numbers for your consideration: Year Total votes =================== 2006 13,726 2008 9,670 2010 15,225 2012 14,778 The first three numbers are the complete final turnout figures for the last three Democratic primary runoffs in Harris County. The fourth number is the turnout for early voting through four days for this year’s Democratic [...]
Your vote is worth 30 times what it usually is
A little runoff math from the Trib. It is easy to lament low voter turnout. Only 11 percent of the state’s voting age adults showed up for the May primaries. But look at their clout: Every actual voter was making a decision on behalf of nine people. In the runoff voting that starts next week [...]
Early voting begins today
Feels weird to be talking about early voting for the primaries now, doesn’t it? Well, ready or not after all this time and all these twists in the road, here we are. Here are your early voting locations and schedule. I note with interest there is a new EV location in the Galleria area – [...]
Interview with Ciro Rodriguez
Also running to reclaim CD23 for the Democrats is the man who last held it for the Dems, Ciro Rodriguez. Rodriguez served five terms in the State House before being elected to CD28 in 1996, where he served until being defeated by Rep. Henry Cuellar in the 2004 primary after the DeLay re-redistricting. He then [...]
Electing educators
This sounds good, but there are a couple of things missing. More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats who have sat on school boards are running for the Texas House this year, and a backlash over spending cuts and standardized testing might help them get there. Legislators sliced per-student spending last year, prompting schools to [...]
Interview with Rep. Borris Miles
State Rep. Borris Miles is in his second term representing HD146, though his terms were not consecutive. He knocked off longtime Rep. Al Edwards in 2006, lost a rematch in 2008, then won again in 2010. He will face Edwards for a fourth time this May. Miles is a former police officer who owns an [...]
Americans Elect starts the petition process
And they’re off. Americans Elect — an emerging, alternative third party that plans to use the Internet to field a presidential ticket this year — is starting to gather signatures of registered voters in Texas to try to gain a spot on this year’s election ballot. “Americans Elect continues to gain ballot access state by [...]
School finance lawsuit #5
The plaintiffs keep on coming. A lawsuit by a small group of parents claims Texas is not getting enough bang for its educational buck, and asks the state’s courts to address inefficiencies in how education funding is spent. Attorneys plan to file their litigation Friday in Austin on behalf of five families who say Texas [...]
On primary challenges
I bookmarked this Statesman story about State Sen. Jeff Wentworth and the primary challenge he faces back when it ran, not because I was terribly interested in that particular race (though some elements of it are quite entertaining) but mostly because it piqued my curiosity about a broader question. The seven-term senator, who represents parts [...]
January finance reports: Harris County state races
In addition to county candidates, my 2012 Democratic primary election page has information about state and federal candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. There are numerous contested primaries, and while I’m not tracking information about Republican races on that page, I thought it would be useful to check on the finance [...]
Lampson on the DCCC’s list
It’s just like old times again. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, launching its bid to win back the House majority, has unveiled its list of top 2012 recruits. DCCC Chairman Steve Israel announced 18 candidates on Wednesday who are being inducted into the House Democratic campaign arm’s “Red to Blue” program, which aims to provide [...]
Sullivan says he’ll step down if he wins primary
He’s hoping to defuse a campaign issue. Houston City Councilman Mike Sullivan will submit his resignation in July if he wins the Republican nomination for Harris County tax assessor-collector in April’s primary, he said. The resignation would not be effective until January, when he would be sworn in as tax assessor if he wins the [...]
When is a filing deadline not a filing deadline?
Answer: When there will be another filing period after the filing deadline, as will be the case in Texas, according to the Secretary of State. “Based on the federal court’s order handed down December 16, candidates will be permitted to file when the filing period reopens on a date yet to be determined and set [...]
Two more points about redistricting
First, go read what Greg has to say about the San Antonio federal court’s logic in drawing the districts that it did. I tried to get at some of this in this post, but he digs in and says it in greater detail and with more clarity. Check it out. Second, something I meant to [...]
Is there or isn’t there a Latino opportunity precinct in the new Commissioners Court map?
Many Latinos say No. “This map is an insult to the Latino community,” State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, said at a public hearing Wednesday night. “The proposed map is full of the Christmas turkey.” Gallegos called on Commissioner El Franco Lee, in whose Precinct 1 the hearing was held, to help him alter the proposed [...]
Meyers to challenge Keller in GOP primary
There will be a little hot judge on judge action in next March’s Republican primary. Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence “Larry” Meyers has told colleagues that he will challenge fellow jurist Sharon Keller in the Republican primary for the court’s presiding judge position. Keller famously fought and ultimately won a legal battle against the [...]
On challenging Ron Paul in CD14
Jason Stanford has a question. So why aren’t we targeting Ron Paul again? The Texas legislature drew him the reapportionment equivalent of a target on his back. They took away some of his red meat territory and gave him Galveston and Jefferson counties, something which failed to raise Kuff’s spirits. [...] Kuff’s not the only [...]
Where the votes were and weren’t in 2006 and 2010
When I was doing the electoral analysis for the new Congressional districts, I also had data about how many votes were cast in each district. And in looking through that data, I saw some interesting things. What I was looking for was the change in Democratic turnout from 2006 to 2010. We know 2010 was [...]
Who’s running for what where?
Chris Cillizza notes an old familiar face who’s back on the scene. Former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) is running again after losing his seat to businessman Francisco Canseco (R) last fall. Rodriguez won the seat in an 2006 special election, after the Supreme Court found that new lines drawn in 2003 violated the Voting Rights [...]
The Seliger-Solomons Congressional map is out
And it’s a joke. Seriously, I can’t describe it any other way. Look at the following districts – go to http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/ and look up Plan C125 – and tell me how they can possibly satisfy any rational legal argument for compactness or communities of interest. Let’s start with CD36, which forms a giant Gateway-style arch [...]
Prioritizing the target list
So now that we’ve had a tour of the possible targets for the Democrats in 2012, how would I prioritize them? Let’s start with the districts I’d call the Must Haves, and the Really Nice To Haves: Dist Incumbent County ============================= 034 Torres/Scott Nueces 035 Aliseda multiple 041 Pena Hidalgo 078 Margo El Paso 101 [...]