Republicans are making up some ground in Harris County. Hard to know which precincts have reported and which haven’t, but with about a third of the boxes in, the straight ticket advantage is down a bit to 46,000 for the Dems, and every Republican at the countywide level has inched up. At least one judicial candidate, Sharon McCally in the 334th Civil District Court, has taken a lead, albeit a tiny one. Ed Emmett is looking strong, and Paul Bettencourt has some breathing room. This will be a late night.
Republicans have some good news in State House races as well. They’re leading in four Democratic districts, at least two of which look like solid pickups for them. Chuck Hopson in HD11 and Juan Garcia in HD32 are still in it, but the clock is ticking. Kristi Thibaut has fallen a bit behind Jim Murphy here in HD133, but it doesn’t look like any of the precincts friendly to her have been counted yet. Joel Redmond in HD144 is a bit further behind. The Dems still lead in several pickup opportunities – Diana Maldonado (HD52), Chris Turner (HD96), Joe Moody (HD78), Miklos, Kent, and Romano in Dallas County. Some of these haven’t updated since early voting. In the end, we may not get much movement in the State House, which would be very good news for Tom Craddick.
Wendy Davis is still leading in her State Senate Race. Chris Bell is almost surely headed to a runoff against Joan Huffman in SD17. Joe Jaworski is trailing in SD11, and probably cannot make up that deficit.