Tag Archives: Election 2012

Endorsement watch: Of course it’s Beto

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron finally corrects an old and egregious error. With eyes clear but certainly not starry, we enthusiastically endorse Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate. The West Texas congressman’s command of issues that matter to this state, his unaffected eloquence and … Continue reading →

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

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 →

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

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 →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What about Neal?

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 →

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

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 →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Three different views of how competitive Texas Congressional districts are

CD23 “live poll”: Hurd 51, Ortiz Jones 43

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Give this one a bit of side-eye. Incumbent Republican Will Hurd is leading his Democratic challenger, Gina Ortiz Jones, in one of the country’s most competitive races in this year’s midterm elections, according to a new poll by The New … Continue reading →

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

Early voting has begun for SD19 special election runoff

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t lose sight of this election. A strong yet unsuccessful showing in 2016 against incumbent Carlos Uresti was enough to convince Pete Flores to take another shot at Uresti’s State Senate seat, this time in a special election to complete … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Early voting has begun for SD19 special election runoff

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 →

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

Fundraising: 2018 vs the rest of the decade

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

When I posted about the Q2 Congressional finance reports, I said I would try to put the totals in some more context at a later time. This is where I do that. Take a look at this table: Dist 2012 … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Fundraising: 2018 vs the rest of the decade

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 →

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

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 →

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

Some people sound very threatened by that Quinnipiac Texas Senate poll

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is almost funny. In its first-ever Texas poll, Quinnipiac University deemed the Senate race “too close to call” in reporting that 47 percent of Texas voters surveyed back Cruz and 44 percent support O’Rourke, an El Paso congressman. The … Continue reading →

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

It’s going to be redistricting time for Texas at SCOTUS soon

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an update. In their latest brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, the voting and minority rights groups challenging Texas’ political maps painted Republican state lawmakers as “opportunistically inconsistent in their treatment of appearance versus reality.” Pointing to the lawmakers’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Stockman trial gets weird

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, with Steve Stockman you have to expect some weird crap, but I didn’t see this coming. The American Phoenix Foundation — a now-defunct conservative activist groupknown for attempting undercover stings of lawmakers and lobbyists — planted an intern in … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Scandalized! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Stockman trial gets weird

Stockman trial update

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From Tuesday: “This case is the story of how the defendant over the course of four years exploited the trust and charity of others to pull off a massive scam,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Heberle, of the Justice Department’s public … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Scandalized! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Stockman trial update

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 →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Post-Primary Day thoughts

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Various thoughts and observations that are better aggregated into one post… – I believe this is the first time that all of the statewide candidates I voted for either won or advanced to the runoff in the primary. Statewide primaries … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Rural Dems

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

They still exist, and they’re making some noise. Trish Robinson was dropping off supplies for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Liberty County, about 40 minutes from Houston, when a handful of people scowled at her left-leaning political T-shirt. David DeLuca, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Rural Dems

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 →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2018 primary early voting, Day 7: Projecting final turnout

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 →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2018 primary early voting, Day 6: The fifteenth county

The case for the Astrodome

Posted on February 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Falkenberg lays it out. But here’s the thing: leaders have to balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s. The long view has its virtues. And frankly, it’s been all to absent in the decision-making of Houston and Harris County. Shortsightedness has … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Already projecting ahead to November turnout

Posted on February 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Some in the political chattering class think the end results in Harris County this yearwon’t be all that different than what we’ve seen before. Harris County may be awash in Democratic hopefuls for the upcoming primary elections, but don’t expect … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

SaberCats Stadium

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Houston’s new pro rugby team will soon have a home. The city’s burgeoning rugby community is poised to have a new home after City Council inked a $3.2 million deal Wednesday that paves the way for the Houston SaberCats to … Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

HISD working on a bond issue

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s going to be quite the year for HISD. Voters living in Houston ISD could be asked to approve a new school bond totaling at least $1.2 billion as early as November, according to a recently unveiled district financial plan. … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018, School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on HISD working on a bond issue

Cruz poll claims big lead over O’Rourke

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Make of this what you will. Texas U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Democrats’ top hope of toppling Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, starts the year at a significant polling disadvantage, according to a new survey released Tuesday by … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Cruz poll claims big lead over O’Rourke

A third PPP Congressional poll in Texas

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a Public Policy Polling Twitter thread of interest. I’ve highlighted the specific relevant tweets. The generic ballot polling certainly looks great for Democrats, but how is that playing out at the district level? We've polled 36 GOP held Congressional … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

KP George files for Fort Bend County Judge

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Current Fort Bend Independent School District Board Trustee, Board Certified Financial Planner, father of three beautiful children, husband of a FBISD educator, and an Asian American citizen, KP George of Fort Bend County, is announcing his campaign … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on KP George files for Fort Bend County Judge

Five out of six ain’t bad

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Five Democratic candidates for six statewide judicial positions, all from Harris County. Four state district and county-level judges from Harris County and a Houston civil-litigation lawyer filed for seats on the Texas Supreme Court and the state Court of Criminal … Continue reading →

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

Opinions differ about Congressional prospects

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I’m gonna boil this one down a bit. Moments before the polls closed in Virginia’s Democratic sweep, Houston-area Republican Ted Poe, across the Potomac River on Capitol Hill, announced his retirement in 2018 after 14 years in Congress. Poe cast … Continue reading →

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

Abbott v Davis

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s getting real out there. In what promises to deepen divisions in the Texas Republican Party, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday endorsed a GOP challenger to incumbent state Rep. Sarah Davis of Houston. Abbott gave his public thumbs-up to Susanna … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Lamar Smith to retire

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Good riddance. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio said Tuesday he is retiring from Congress. “For several reasons, this seems like a good time to pass on the privilege of representing the 21st District to someone else,” he wrote in … Continue reading →

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

UT/TT poll: We need more context

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Time for another UT/Texas Trib poll, in which the pollsters do a mighty fine job of failing to find anything interesting about their data. Donald Trump remains highly popular with Texas Republicans nearly a year after his election as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on UT/TT poll: We need more context

Another contemplation of turnout

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s see where this one takes us. Last time, I made some guesses about turnout in the HISD races based on overall turnout in the city of Houston. Now I’m going to turn that around and take a shot at … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2017 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Congressional candidates everywhere