Category Archives: Election 2018

Apparently, that pay parity debate did happen

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I missed the last twist in this saga, but in the end it did happen. After months of trading barbs from a distance, Mayor Sylvester Turner and the head of Houston’s firefighters’ union met in a vigorous but civil debate … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Of course it’s Lizzie

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron endorses Lizzie Fletcher over Rep. John Culberson, which may be the biggest non-surprise so far of the election season. More than longtime Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. John Culberson, or even her opponents from the heated Democratic primary, Fletcher … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: Vote ‘Em Out

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Listen to Willie Nelson, y’all. Link via the Current. The deadline to register to vote is this Tuesday, October 9. Early voting begins on Monday, October 22. You know what to do.

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Endorsement watch: Star system

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has made a change in how it presents its endorsements. The quality of candidates on the ballot varies widely from race to race. At times, both candidates are good choices. At times, there are no good choices to … Continue reading →

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Interview with Andrea Duhon

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We had a couple of contested primaries for HCDE Trustee, which gave me the chance to talk about what HCDE does as I published interviews with those candidates. I figure lots of us don’t know all that much about this … Continue reading →

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The pay parity proposal debate that wasn’t

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s not get ready to rumble! Houston’s firefighters union has withdrawn from a Saturday debate with Mayor Sylvester Turner on their proposal to seek pay “parity” with police officers, saying the event’s host, the Harris County Democratic Party, had given … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Why FiveThirtyEight really believes Beto has a chance

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Nate Silver explains the reasoning behind the numbers. When building a statistical model, you ideally want to find yourself surprised by the data some of the time — just not too often. If you never come up with a result that … Continue reading →

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Judicial Q&A: Kelley Andrews

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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Interview with Diane Trautman

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

For all the well-deserved focus on Congress and state offices, there are some races of real consequence here in Harris County. Control of Commissioner’s Court, some balance on the HCDE Board of Trustees, and of course the County Clerk, where … Continue reading →

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Musicians for Beto

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Just another dimension to a really interesting picture. Beto O’Rourke’s time as a musician is one of the more well-trodden parts of his bio. And it makes sense. As O’Rourke worked to introduce himself to 28 million Texans who had … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018, Music | Tagged , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Endorsement watch: Nine from Obama

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know what the practical effect of this is, but I’m happy for the attention. Former President Barack Obama has backed nine more Democratic candidates in Texas as part of his second round of midterm endorsements. The nine candidates … Continue reading →

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Judicial Q&A: Jason Cox

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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

Interview with Meg Walsh

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Every election cycle, I start off with an idea of which candidates I intend to interview. Every election cycle, I wind up interviewing at least one candidate that I hadn’t originally planned to interview. There are a variety of reasons … Continue reading →

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A little effort for redistricting reform

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a start. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, is making a quarter-million-dollar investment in Texas to help Democrats here flip a number of state House seats in November. The money … Continue reading →

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Sarah Davis’ balancing act

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

As it will be for many of her Republican colleagues, especially in Harris County, 2018 is a challenging year for Rep. Sarah Davis. To understand how Republican state Rep. Sarah Davis plans to survive a possible Democratic blue wave in … Continue reading →

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SD16 poll: Johnson 45, Huffines 42

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling shows challenger Nathan Johnson leading Don Huffines in the race for Texas Senate District 16, which covers most of northern Dallas County. Johnson has 45 percent of the vote, … Continue reading →

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What about Neal?

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

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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Interview with Alex Karjeker

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We conclude our tour of Harris County legislative districts with a trip to the southern end of the county into HD129. Alex Karjeker grew up in Clear Lake and attended public schools there before heading to UT for degrees in … Continue reading →

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Lots more voters registered statewide

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Always good to hear. The Texas voter rolls have grown to 15.6 million people, a new record, Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos confirmed. That is nearly a 400,000-person increase since March and a jump of 1.6 million since the … Continue reading →

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ACLU reminds counties to provide voting materials in Spanish

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: With weeks to go before the November 6 election, the ACLU of Texas has sent advisal letters to 36 counties across Texas that may be in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The letters urge the identified … Continue reading →

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Judicial Q&A: Richard Hightower

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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The AG race and the lawsuit to kill Obamacare

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like this is a better issue for Justin Nelson than it is for Ken Paxton. Of course, on the down side, for it to really be salient millions of people will have lost health insurance. Not that Ken … Continue reading →

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Schwertner update

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

He has amended his statement. In the face of a sexual harassment allegation, state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, has hired two Austin attorneys and denied sending “any inappropriate texts as alleged” — “Period.” — in a new statement Wednesday from … Continue reading →

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Interview with Michael Shawn Kelly

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with our tour of Harris County legislative districts. It’s already the case that a majority of the Harris County legislative caucus is Democratic; in 2016, 13 of 24 members of the State House from our county were Dems. … Continue reading →

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CD32 “live poll”: Sessions 48, Allred 47

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Another on of these polls, another close result. Incumbent Republican Pete Sessions and Democratic challenger Colin Allred are in a dead heat in the much-anticipated race for Dallas County’s 32nd Congressional District. According to a New York Times/Siena College poll … Continue reading →

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The firefighter pay parity proposal sure seems like it’s going to pass

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

What are ya gonna do? Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is holding town halls to try to convince voters that the city can’t afford Proposition B, a ballot measure that would tie firefighters’ pay to that of police. It’s turning into … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , | 49 Comments

Judicial Q&A: Meg Poissant

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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Three different views of how competitive Texas Congressional districts are

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

You are by now familiar with The Crosstab and its 2018 Congressional forecast, as I’ve referred to it multiple times in recent months. G. Elliott Morris, the proprietor of The Crosstab, now works at The Economist, and they have their … Continue reading →

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Interview with Jon Rosenthal

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We move back to Harris County this week for conversations with more State Rep candidates. I talked to several such candidates who were involved in contested primaries earlier in the year, and you can find links to those interviews here. … Continue reading →

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Dallas lawsuit over candidate eligibility officially mooted

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: On Thursday, September 20, 2018, the Fifth Court of Appeals issued an Order in Dallas County GOP v. Dallas County Democratic Party, stating that any relief related to the November election is moot, and that the appeal, … Continue reading →

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The Dallas County House battleground

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Lot of seats in play here. [Julie] Johnson is among several Democratic candidates in Dallas hoping national and statewide talk of a blue wave will trickle down to several local state House races. A mix of Democratic enthusiasm this cycle, … Continue reading →

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“Viva Texas! Viva Beto!”

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s been too long since the last time I posted a video. It all came from a love of the law and a shared dislike of Ted Cruz. It was a few bigwig local prosecutors, a capital defense attorney, a … Continue reading →

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Two from PPP (RV): Cruz 48, O’Rourke 45, and Cruz 49, O’Rourke 46

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Fourth in a series from PPP. A new Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey commissioned by Protect Our Care finds that 62 percent of voters in Texas say health care will be one of the most important issues they consider when … Continue reading →

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Harvey and the Congressional races

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This was from a couple of days ago. A year ago this week, Dayna Steele was standing in 29 inches of water inside her Seabrook home. Her family had already made it through Hurricane Ike in 2008, when the water … Continue reading →

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