Tag Archives: Election 2018

State and county election result relationships, part 3: Other county races

Part One Part Two Last time we looked at judicial races, which for all of the complaints about not knowing the candidates and just going by partisan labels have produced a consistent range of outcomes over the years. Some people … Continue reading

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State and county election result relationships, part 2: Judicial races

In Part One of this series, we looked at the relationship between statewide results and Harris County results for statewide candidates. In the last three elections, statewide Democratic candidates have done on average more than nine points better in Harris … Continue reading

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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

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Marist: Abbott 49, Beto 45

Another new pollster for this election. In the Texas governor’s race, Republican incumbent Governor Greg Abbott has a 4-point edge over Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke among registered voters statewide. However, Abbott’s advantage over O’Rourke doubles to 8 points among those … Continue reading

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Voter registration update

However you look at it, we have a lot of registered voters now. With three weeks before the Oct. 11 deadline for the November elections, nearly 80% of the state’s voting age population is registered to vote, putting the number … Continue reading

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Let’s not go overboard about these voter registration numbers

Sure it’s nice to see, but a little perspective is in order. In Texas, it’s not just women who are fired up about access to abortion and registering to vote in large numbers following this summer’s historic Supreme Court decision … Continue reading

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More evidence of misdemeanor bail reform’s success

Lower costs, fewer wrongful incarcerations and guilty pleas, less recidivism. What more do you want? Fewer misdemeanor defendants went on to commit crimes in Harris County after federal litigation in 2017 aimed at curtailing the jailing of low-income people charged … Continue reading

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Harris County officially gets its $750 million from the GLO

With hopefully more to come, as well as something for Houston. Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously approved an agreement Wednesday with the Texas General Land Office to receive $750 million in federal flood mitigation funding, and called on the agency … Continue reading

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Harris County looks to sue over Comptroller’s BS “defunding” claim

Tell it to the judge. Harris County Commissioners Court this week is expected to hire an outside law firm to take legal action against the state and Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who accused the county of defunding law enforcement in violation … Continue reading

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What do we expect from CD23?

It was the perennial razor-close high-dollar swing district all last decade. Will Hurd won it three times, but never reached 50% in any of the three elections. It moved a few points towards the GOP in 2020 when Tony Gonzales … Continue reading

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CC4 poll: Briones 44, Cagle 42

From the inbox: Lesley Briones, candidate for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4, released the results of a new poll today that shows her in the lead: Briones 44% / Cagle 42%. The poll was conducted August 9-13 by the national firm, … Continue reading

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The Constables’ and Comptroller’s ridiculous complaint

This is transparent bullshit. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar this week accused Harris County commissioners of defunding local constables and threatened to prevent the county from implementing its proposed 2023 budget if the county does not reverse course. In a letter … Continue reading

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Commissioners Court approves its bond package

But not without some bitching and griping. Harris County Commissioners Court voted Thursday to put a $1.2 billion package on the November ballot this year, with the vast majority aimed at road construction. Tensions flared when Harris County Judge Lina … Continue reading

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Commissioners Court plans to put a bond issue on the ballot

First one in seven years. Harris County voters will have more on their November ballot, after a divided commissioners court Tuesday took the first step toward a $1.2 billion bond package for police, parks, drainage and roads. Common with many … Continue reading

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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

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July 2022 campaign finance reports: Congress

The runoffs are now over, and we’re fully into the fall election season. As before, I’ve consolidated this list down to the elections of interest, which means I’ve dropped CD30 as it was a primary-only affair. I’m also dropping CD10 … Continue reading

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That UH/Hobby poll has Judge Hidalgo up by one in Harris County

Don’t know how many of these polls we’re going to get. Democrat Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo holds a 1 percentage point lead over Republican opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer in polling results released Thursday by the University of Houston. … Continue reading

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Quinnipiac: Abbott 48, Beto 43

A lot closer than their previous poll, from December. In the race for Texas governor, 48 percent of voters support Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, while 43 percent support Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University poll of … Continue reading

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Flores wins CD34 special election

Groan. Republican Mayra Flores prevailed Tuesday in a special election for an open congressional seat in South Texas, marking a major breakthrough for Republicans eager to blaze new inroads in the historically blue region. She beat Dan Sanchez, the leading … Continue reading

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Would you believe there’s still Renew Houston litigation out there?

This hit my mailbox on Friday. Today, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled in the City’s favor in Perez v. Turner, a challenge to Houston’s drainage fee, which provides the City with $125 million per year to pay for drainage … Continue reading

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Harris County ponders a bond election

First one in awhile. Harris County leaders will begin discussions Tuesday about whether to add a bond election to the November ballot. The bond would be a hybrid measure to raise money for roads, parks, flood control, and public safety. … Continue reading

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It’s called “talking out of both sides of your mouth”

It’s an old and effective trick, but that doesn’t mean it has to work. For a moment Friday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was in two places at once. At about 3:30, the National Rifle Association played videotaped remarks from … Continue reading

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2022 primary runoff Day Five EV report: Yes, I have some info about mail ballots

Early voting has concluded for the primary runoffs. Here’s the final EV report, and here are the final totals: Party Mail Early Total ============================== Dem 16,767 25,294 42,061 GOP 13,187 50,498 63,685 You can compare to Day Three. As is … Continue reading

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A bunch of well-financed wackos won school board races in Tarrant County

Not great. All but one of the 11 Tarrant County conservative school board candidates, who were backed this year by several high-profile donors and big-money PACs, defeated their opponents during Saturday’s statewide election, according to unofficial election results. The one … Continue reading

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April 2022 campaign finance reports: Congress

The primaries are over, and while we do still have some runoffs plus now a weird special election in CD34, we do have a smaller set of races and candidates to review. Given how many I had to cram into … Continue reading

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I really don’t want to have to pay attention to the race for TDP Chair

But I suppose I have to make note of this. The race for Texas Democratic Party chair is being roiled by allegations that a challenger, Kim Olson, pushed the party’s top staffer during a bus tour in 2018. Olson denies … Continue reading

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Sen. Powell ends her re-election bid

Disappointing but understandable. State Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, ended her reelection campaign Wednesday morning, citing an “unwinnable race” in a district that Republican lawmakers had redrawn to make a Democratic win impossible. “Under the new map that will remain intact … Continue reading

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Judge rules against Prairie View students in 2018 voting rights case

There was a lot of legal activity last week, so it took me a minute to get to this story. A federal judge ruled Thursday that Waller County did not discriminate against student voters at Prairie View A&M University during … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: The new Senate map

Previously: New State House map, New Congressional map, new SBOE map. The good news is that all 31 Senate seats will be on the ballot this year, as it is a post-redistricting year. The bad news is that the only … Continue reading

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Still more on the mail ballot rejections

The Associated Press moves the ball forward now that the votes have been canvassed. Texas threw out mail votes at an abnormally high rate during the nation’s first primary of 2022, rejecting nearly 23,000 ballots outright under tougher voting rules … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: Abbott’s weak spots

Is this a thing? As dominating as Gov. Greg Abbott’s GOP primary victory on Tuesday looked at first blush, a closer look at the results shows a nagging problem within his own party that could ultimately cost him in his … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: Beto’s range in the 2022 primaries

When you get 91.34% of the vote in an election, as Beto did in the Democratic primary for Governor, there’s usually not a whole lot of interesting data beneath the surface. But you never know until you look, so I … Continue reading

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More data about mail ballot rejections

Keep it coming. Thousands of Texans who attempted to vote by mail in the March primary were disenfranchised in the state’s first election conducted under a new Republican voting law. The state’s largest counties saw a significant spike in the … Continue reading

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The rejected mail ballots of Bexar County

I have four things to say about this. Bexar County rejected mail-in ballots at roughly ten times the rate it did before the passage of the state’s new voting law last year. Before Senate Bill 1 took effect, with its … Continue reading

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