Tag Archives: Election 2006

On straight tickets and undervotes

Posted on November 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, straight ticket voting in Texas is now officially a thing of the past. It will not be an option in 2020, the next time there will be partisan elections. Thanks to the success of Democratic candidates in … Continue reading →

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Texas and Tarrant

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib looks at Beto O’Rourke’s campaign focus on Tarrant County. Fort Worth and its outlying ranches and suburbs are mostly a backwater in Texas politics. Gerrymandered to the hilt, the national parties have mostly ignored this county. But since … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Early voting for November 2018 starts today

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: “Study the long November 6, 2018 Election ballot to ensure you make the right choices when voting,”  said Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, encouraging voters to visit www.HarrisVotes.com  and select “Find your Poll and Ballot” to review their personal sample … 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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Harris County 2018 voter registration numbers

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Thank you Harris County Voter Registration Division and Harris County Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrars for your passion, dedication, and commitment in registering eligible voters! Current number registered: 2,291,037 Voters registered in 2017: 67,753 Voters registered in 2018: … Continue reading →

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The 2006 question

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It always comes back to turnout. It was the worst day of the worst month of the worst season in years for Republicans hoping to mitigate political damage in this fall’s midterm elections. And Texas political operatives were left stunned … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The range of Republican anxiety

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Some folks are a little scared about all this “blue wave” talk and poll numbers and what have you. As Ted Cruz took questions at a Republican women’s event [in Smithville] Saturday evening, Bastrop retiree Ronnie Ann Burt wanted to … Continue reading →

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Stalking Sessions

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It sure would be sweet to beat Pete. The man who engineered the 2010 Republican takeover of the House is racing to save himself in his own election this year — and he admits, in so many words, that President … Continue reading →

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We may have reached peak independent candidate

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Meet Jonathan Jenkins, who would apparently like to be on your ballot for the Senate this fall. It’s got a high-tech evangelist for a founder, $6 million in private equity investments, even its own crypto-currency. No, it’s not a driverless … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Looking back at 2010 and 2014

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve talked a lot about polls in the past week, so I thought I’d take a minute and look back at the polling data that we had as of this time in the 2010 and 2014 elections, to see if … Continue reading →

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No Greens

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t honestly say I’m sorry. When Texans head to the ballot box this November, they’ll be able to vote for Republicans, Democrats or Libertarians. If they want to choose a candidate affiliated with another political group, they might have to … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Lupe and Beto

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Beto O’Rourke has a year-old, well-funded campaign for US Senate. Lupe Valdez doesn’t have anything like those advantages in her campaign for Governor. Will her lower profile effort have a negative effect on his higher profile one? The race for … Continue reading →

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Post-runoff thoughts

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose one’s view on Democratic primary runoff turnout is a matter of perspective. I wrote that it was way more than the turnout of any primary going back to 2006 – indeed, more than double the turnout of any … Continue reading →

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2018 Runoff EV report: Primary runoff turnout totals don’t much matter

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, have you been wondering how early voting has gone in the primary runoffs so far? Well, wonder no more, for here is the daily report through Wednesday. You have today and tomorrow to vote early, and then you’ll need … Continue reading →

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The crossover question

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From G. Elliott Morris, reviewing the recent AZ-08 special Congressional election: The second thing to learn from AZ-08 helps explain the first: if Democrats aren’t winning because of differential turnout (or, not solely because of differential turnout), why are they? … Continue reading →

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Are Texas Republicans really worried about Trump for November?

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, I guess they are. They’ve seen what has happened around the country, in other elections and other red places. I don’t know how worried they are, or how worried they should be. This is a Red State where … Continue reading →

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The history of CD07

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good read, though not really anything we didn’t already know. West University could have been the set for “Leave it to Beaver” when Serpell Edwards and his wife Betsy bought their home there 45 years ago. The neighbors were mostly … Continue reading →

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Does primary turnout in a district predict the November result?

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Karl Rove would like you to think so. At the House level, Democrats hope to win three districts won by Hillary Clinton and now held by Republican incumbents, as well as some of the six seats opened up by GOP … Continue reading →

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2018 primary early voting, Day 7: Projecting final turnout

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

KUHF starts with the speculation. Harris County Democrats are voting in record numbers ahead of next week’s primary. Total returns for the first six days of early voting put Democrats nearly even with Republicans. As of Sunday night, Democrats’ combined … Continue reading →

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2018 primary early voting, Day 6: The fifteenth county

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Sunday is the shortest and least busy day of early voting, and it is the transition to Week 2, when all the days are 12 hours long and numbers start to go way up. Here’s what this Sunday looked like. … Continue reading →

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A look at CD16 and CD03

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

As one might expect, the primary race for Beto O’Rourke’s soon-to-be-former Congressional seat is compettiive and < and getting a little salty. [Now-former El Paso COunty Judge Veronica] Escobar is running, in part, on her experience as a former leader … Continue reading →

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The life and times of Kinky Friedman

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I have feelings about this. With Friedman, it’s showtime most of the time. On this occasion, he’s in town with Mary Lou Sullivan, his biographer, who attempted to condense his strange life into 300 pages. Hers was an unenviable task. … Continue reading →

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A look at past primaries

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I think we can all agree that the 2018 Democratic primary season is already unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory. And since I like putting expressions like that into numbers, I thought I’d try to do it here. First, … Continue reading →

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Republicans really are worried about 2018

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Some of them, anyway. In a private memo to Abbott’s aides, senior political adviser Dave Carney cautions that despite the fact that Texas is solid red in recent statewide voting patterns, suburban voters could pose significant problems for Republicans in … Continue reading →

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Framing the 2018 question

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This Chron story asks the question “what might it take for a Democrat to win statewide in Texas in 2018, then never actually engages it. At the five-top table in the corner at Russell’s Bakery, a northwest Austin restaurant and … Continue reading →

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Congressional candidates everywhere

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Democrats are as optimistic as they’ve ever been about candidate recruitment. “I’ve been recruiting candidates in Texas for years, and I’ve never seen an environment quite like this,” said Cliff Walker, candidate recruitment director for the state Democratic Party. … Continue reading →

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We have a candidate for Treasurer

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

The Democratic slate for countywide offices in 2018 is now filled out as Dylan Osborne has announced his candidacy for Harris County Treasurer. Osborne has been a City Council staffer and currently works in the Planning & Development Department for … Continue reading →

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One side benefit of the continued Republican repeal follies

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It depresses the base. Texas-based Republican political consultant Brendan Steinhauser’s early read of the fallout was that the party has reasons to be worried about next year’s midterm elections. “I think that you will see that if this fails, Republicans … Continue reading →

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One more thing about vouchers

Posted on April 9, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to enjoy this just a little bit more. The Texas House of Representatives all but killed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s prized school choice bill Thursday, dealing the powerful Republican a major loss as he struggles to push his … Continue reading →

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O’Rourke sure sounds like a candidate for Senate

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Sure feels like it’s a matter of when and not if Rep. Beto O’Rourke announces his candidacy for US Senate. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, is sailing toward a 2018 Senate campaign — an uphill battle that would pit … Continue reading →

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O’Rourke and Dowd say they want to challenge Cruz in 2018

Posted on January 7, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. Beto O’Rourke upgraded his chances of running for the Senate in 2018 to “very likely”. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke said Thursday he is all but certain to make a run for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s seat in 2018. “I’ve … Continue reading →

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A theory about third parties

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Before I get to that theory, have you ever wondered about the people who vote straight ticket Libertarian or Green in Harris County? I got to wondering about them, because that’s the sort of thing that I think about at … Continue reading →

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Beto O’Rourke talking about the Senate

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Another Democratic Congressman is thinking about trying for an upgrade. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, told The Texas Tribune he is considering running for the U.S. Senate. “I am,” the sophomore congressman said when Tribune CEO Evan … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: A Libertarian moment

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron thinks outside the box in endorsing for the Railroad Commission. Our editorial board interviews scores of candidates for political office every election year, but seldom do we find ourselves wholeheartedly endorsing a nominee from the Libertarian Party. Then … Continue reading →

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