Runoff roundup

Here’s a look at some of the runoff elections that will be on the ballot next month.

On the Democratic side…boy, there’s not much. No statewide runoffs, as Linda Chavez-Thompson got a majority in her three-candidate race for Lite Guv. One for Congress, where Robert Pruett and Winston Cochrane compete for the right to challenge Ron Paul in CD14. One for State Rep, where incumbent Norma Chavez in El Paso’s HD76 trailed Naomi Gonzalez by a handful of votes. In Harris County, there will be four judicial races and one JP race:

234th Civil District Court: Tanner Garth versus Jim Peacock
270th Civil District Court: Bob Thomas versus Lee Arellano
308th Family District Court: Bruce Kessler versus Julia Maldonado
311th Family District Court: Deborah Wright versus Brad Morris
JP, Precinct 3, Place 2: Don Coffey versus Denise Graves

I’m thinking you’ll be able to count turnout on your fingers. Which means that if you do vote, it’s worth that much more.

Two other runoffs of interest elsewhere: In Travis County, the open 299th Civil District Court bench will feature Mindy Montford, who lost a runoff to replace Ronnie Earle as DA in 2008, and Karen Sage. This is the bench that 3rd Court of Appeals Justice Jan Patterson had inquired with Rick Perry for an appointment, which annoyed a lot of the Dem faithful there since it would have allowed Perry to also replace her on the 3rd Court with a Republican, giving the GOP a 4-2 edge. Patterson wound up running for the 201st and was soundly defeated there by Amy Clark Meachum.

Finally, in Dallas County, Clay Jenkins came within a hair of winning the nomination for County Judge – he missed the 50% mark by 75 votes – and will be in a runoff with Larry Duncan. Both finished ahead of incumbent Jim Foster, who was swept into office in 2006 but wasn’t up to the task.

Much more action on the Republican side, starting with the Supreme Court race I mentioned before. Six Congressional runoffs, of which the ones in CD17, between Bill Flores and 2008 candidate Rob Curnock, and CD23, between Will Hurd and repeat nomination-seeker Quico Canseco, are the main ones of interest. One runoff for the SBOE, where Marsha Farney will face Cynthia Dunbar’s hand-picked successor, Bryan Russell, for her open seat.

There are eight runoffs for State Rep seats, two of which feature incumbents – Fred Brown in HD14 and Delwin Jones in HD83 – three of which are for open seats – Mabrie Jackson and Van Taylor in HD66, which was Brian McCall’s seat; Mark Griffin and John Frullo in HD84 to replace Carl Isett; Dan Huberty and Susan Curling in HD127, which was Joe Crabb’s seat; former Houston City Council Member Addie Wiseman came in third – and three of which are to challenge incumbent Democrats – Paul Workman and Holly Turner to face Rep. Valinda Bolton in HD47; John Gordon and Larry Gonzales to face Rep. Diana Maldonado in HD52; and Jack O’Connor versus Dianne Williams in HD149 to face Rep. Hubert Vo.

In Harris County, there are a couple of judicial runoffs and one JP race, plus the one for county GOP Chair.

180th Criminal District Court: Danny Dexter and Marc Brown
308th Family District Court: James Lombardino and Alice O’Neill
JP Precinct 5, Place 2: Jeff Williams and George Huntoon

I think that’s everything. If I missed something, let me know.

UPDATE: Burka has a good analysis of the legislative runoffs.

Related Posts:

• Election night returns
• Runoff Day
• Initial post-election wrapup