Tag Archives: primaries

Day Three EV totals for 2016 primaries

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Three! Three days of early voting: Year Dem GOP ======================= 2008 28,464 12,092 2012 9,871 21,635 2016 18,398 25,954 For your reference, the 2016 totals are here, and the 2012 totals are here. I don’t have daily EVPA totals from … Continue reading →

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Day Two EV totals for 2016 primaries

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here you go: Year Dem GOP ======================= 2008 19,578 8,654 2012 8,135 17,846 2016 14,001 19,376 For your reference, the 2016 totals are here, and the 2012 totals are here. I don’t have daily EVPA totals from the Harris County … Continue reading →

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Trib overview of SBOE races

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

As always, there’s a lot of action in these low profile races. Among the contenders in the races to replace Republican Thomas Ratliff of Mount Pleasant and Democrat Martha Dominguez of El Paso is a 68-year-old East Texas retiree who … Continue reading →

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Day One Ev totals for 2016 primaries

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Day One of the 2016 primary election early voting is in the can. Woo hoo! How’d we do yesterday? Year Dem GOP ======================= 2008 10,049 4,130 2012 6,214 13,407 2016 9,636 12,720 For your reference, the 2016 totals are here, … Continue reading →

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Early voting starts today

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Early voting for the Texas, March 1, Primary Elections begins Tuesday, Feb. 16 and continues through Friday, Feb. 26.  There will be 42 early voting locations where Harris County citizens seeking to vote a Republican or  Democratic … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Opting for Ogg

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron makes their choice in the Democratic primary for District Attorney. Democratic voters face a choice between two strong candidates for Harris County district attorney. But while Morris Overstreet can look back and reflect on a distinguished career, Kim … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: District Court judges

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron makes endorsements in the many contested Democratic primaries for civil and criminal district court. For brevity’s sake and so as not to copy and paste the whole damn thing, I’ve just pulled out the endorsed candidates’ names: 11th … Continue reading →

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The most interesting statewide primary is for the Court of Criminal Appeals

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Too bad no one’s paying attention. When the first Republican ever elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decided in 2013 to switch parties after 20 years on the bench, the move made national news. Now as the only … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Dudley and Sullivan

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron makes its endorsements in the Tax Assessor primaries. It is the time of year when the Harris County tax assessor-collector gains sudden prominence: Jan. 31 is the due date to pay property taxes, and Feb. 1 is the … Continue reading →

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This week on “As Collin County Turns”

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I swear, the Ken Paxton case is a giant vortex of political suck, absorbing everything in its wake. The Collin County district judge who oversaw the grand jury indictment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton is now facing a complaint … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Sheriffs

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the time of the season again. In Ed Gonzalez, Democratic Party primary voters have a candidate with broad experience in law enforcement and governance. Gonzalez’s resume includes three terms as councilman of District H, and 18 years in the … Continue reading →

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Inevitable “birther” lawsuit filed against Ted Cruz

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Houston, represent! Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz should be disqualified from the race because he isn’t a “natural-born citizen,” a fellow Texan claims in a “birther” challenge filed against the senator in a U.S. court. The suit seeks a court … Continue reading →

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Republican filing deadline highlights

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As a followup to this, here’s a look at who filed for what in the Republican primary here in Harris County. Set your phasers to “snark” and come on in with me. Congress There are nine Congressional districts partially or … Continue reading →

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David Porter not running for re-election to RRC

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Another open seat. Texas Railroad Commission Chairman David Porter will not be running for re-election after all. Thursday’s surprise announcement from Porter, who was first elected in 2010, unleashed a flood of interest from Republicans pondering bids for his seat. … Continue reading →

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Just leave already

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously. State GOP leaders, in a predictable but closely watched vote, have defeated a proposal to ask Texas voters whether they favor secession. In a voice vote Saturday afternoon, the State Republican Executive Committee rejected a measure that would have … Continue reading →

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UT/TT primary poll: Hillary leads the Dems, Trump and Cruz lead the GOP

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

For those who care about this sort of thing. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump are in a dead heat for the Republican presidential nomination in Texas, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. With four … Continue reading →

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We still can’t get new maps

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously? To avoid confusion and uncertainty, the state’s 2016 elections for Congress and the Texas House will proceed under the current political maps, a three-judge federal panel in San Antonio said late Friday. The court previously approved maps for use … Continue reading →

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School finance ruling expected soon

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Hold onto your hats. For decades, the state’s 1,000-plus school districts vied against one another for a bigger piece of the financial pie. Now two-thirds of state districts have joined forces to say the system is unfair because it doesn’t … Continue reading →

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Some early legislative race news

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Just a few links of interest. First, the race in SD24 heats up. Republican state Rep. Susan King said Monday that she will join an increasingly crowded primary field to replace retiring GOP state Sen. Troy Fraser. King had earlier … Continue reading →

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2015 Texas Lyceum poll

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Issues first, election stuff to come. From the press release: The 2015 Texas Lyceum Poll Finds:  Immigration remains the most important issue facing the state and Texans support lawmakers’ increased spending on border security. Texans’ views on  gay marriage are changing. … Continue reading →

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When might we get a Supreme Court ruling on school finance?

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

When they’re damn good and ready is the usual answer for Supreme Court rulings, but in the case of school finance lawsuits they usually act with some measure of speed. Given past rulings and politics — three justices on the … Continue reading →

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2015 candidates’ voting history

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Regular commenter Mainstream took the time to investigate and document the recent voting history of the candidates on the 2015 city of Houston ballot. Here it is, for your perusal. A couple of caveats: Data is for Harris County, with … Continue reading →

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Keffer to retire

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The original Straus gang shrinks again. State Rep. Jim Keffer, an Eastland Republican who was one of the earliest supporters of House Speaker Joe Straus, has decided not to seek reelection next year, according to a statement he prepared for … Continue reading →

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Eltife not running for re-election

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

He will be missed. After 23 years in elected office, state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, said he will not run for re-election in 2016 to devote more time to family, friends, his work and his community. Eltife said he’s loved … Continue reading →

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On Gene Green and representing Latino districts

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been meaning to blog about this story about Rep. Gene Green and CD29 and how the Houston area has never sent a Latino to Congress, but I kept getting stuck and I finally decided I was overthinking it. Two … Continue reading →

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Greg Enos turns his spotlight to Gary Polland

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be good. There can be no doubt: Gary Polland is a smart, successful lawyer who knows how to make a lot of money from the practice of law. Polland is politically powerful and able to influence and … Continue reading →

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Some postmortem thoughts

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib leads with the obvious. As the results of Republican primary runoffs began to roll in Tuesday evening, Texas Democrats realized they were getting exactly what they wanted — and exactly what they feared. The victories of Dan Patrick … Continue reading →

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Primary runoff results

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So long, Dave. Riding a wave of conservative sentiment that Texas Republicans were not being led with a hard enough edge, state Sen. Dan Patrick crushed Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff election for lieutenant governor, ending … Continue reading →

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Pratt campaign sign mystery apparently solved

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Nice detective work. Last week, when campaign signs for disgraced former family court judge Denise Pratt popped up at some early voting locations in Houston, several sources said they had seen local Republican political consultant Burt Levine putting them up. … Continue reading →

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Runoff Day is finally here

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the day on which the toxic idiocy of the GOP runoffs for Lt. Governor and Attorney General finally come to an end and we get a brief respite before the general election gets into full swing. But first, you … Continue reading →

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Early runoff turnout higher than expected

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Not high, you understand, but higher than expected. More than 73,000 Harris County residents cast ballots in person or by mail in the five days of early voting before next week’s primary runoffs. While the total of 73,259 was low … Continue reading →

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What campaign signs?

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Denise Pratt says she knows nothing about all those campaign signs advocating her re-election that she says she isn’t running for. Campaign signs urging voters to “Re-elect Denise Pratt” have popped up outside at least three early voting locations this … Continue reading →

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Dewhurst admits he has no control over his campaign

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t think of any other way to characterize this. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Monday he was “appalled” by Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson’s decision to publicize court filings detailing Dan Patrick’s past mental health issues and that he tried … Continue reading →

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The Senate is likely to get stupider again

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The cause. The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents officially named state Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, the sole finalist to be the system’s next chancellor in a press release issued Monday afternoon. Duncan is expected to start in his … Continue reading →

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