Tag Archives: Election 2019

All the Legislative interviews

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Just to collect them all in one convenient place for you: HD28 Eliz Markowitz HD148 Anna Eastman Alva Treviño Penny Shaw Chris Watt Terah Isaacson Kendra Yarbrough Camarena Rob Block Michele Leal Adrian P. Garcia Carol Denson And there you … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: For the incumbents in G and K

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Two more Council endorsements from the Chron. First up, they recommend Martha Castex-Tatum for a full term in District K: District K Councilwoman Martha Castex-Tatum has a hard time leaving her work at the office. “Trash keeps me up at … Continue reading →

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Interview with Adrian P. Garcia

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We come to the end of HD148 Special Election Interview Season. I hope you have found this useful, and that you will agree with me that there are many fine choices available to you on the ballot. Today we hear … Continue reading →

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30 Day finance reports: Special legislative elections

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

As I said earlier, I’m still working my way through the unfathomably ginormous number of 30-day campaign finance reports for City of Houston candidates. There are other elections of interest for which 30 day reports are required, so we’ll take … Continue reading →

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Interview with Michele Leal

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Two more candidates to go in HD148. I will not get to everyone, but I hope this series has helped you decide which of the candidates you want to support. Michele Leal is another candidate to succeed Rep. Jessica Farrar … Continue reading →

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Big Bucks Buzbee

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It is, by far, his best asset. Mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee put another $2.5 million into his campaign last month, widening his financial edge over Mayor Sylvester Turner heading into the stretch run of the race for Houston’s top elected … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: E and F

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron endorses incumbent CM Dave Martin in District E. It’s easy to find out the biggest problem in Houston City Council District E. Ask any of its residents and most likely they will tell you a flooding story. Water … Continue reading →

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Interview with Rob Block

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with Week Two of HD148 Special Election Interview Season. I get to call it a season because anything that requires more than one week qualifies for that designation. Rob Block is among the first-time candidates in the race, … Continue reading →

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Interview with Kendra Yarbrough Camarena

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s Week Two of HD148 Special Election Interview Season. I have four more candidates to present to you, and we’ll start with one who has run for the State House before. Kendra Yarbrough Camarena was the Democratic nominee for HD138 … Continue reading →

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The Chron’s overview of the Mayor

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a fair picture. Mayor Sylvester Turner hugged his way through three dozen staff and supporters, reached the podium, and smiled. It was May 2017, and Turner’s landmark pension reform bill had just passed the Legislature, validating his decision to … Continue reading →

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Gina Ortiz Jones is doing big fundraising numbers again

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. Gina Ortiz Jones, the leading Democratic candidate to replace U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, raised over $1 million in the third quarter, her campaign announced Tuesday morning. The figure represents a massive haul that her campaign described as the … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Let’s get this thing started

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Endorsement Season has begun at the Chronicle, and while the number of elections to cover isn’t really higher than usual, the sheer number of candidates to bring in for interviews is massive and had to have been a logistical nightmare. … Continue reading →

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Interview with Terah Isaacson

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We come to the end of our first week of HD148 special election candidate interviews. There’s still another week to go, because there’s just that many candidates and I’ve done that many interviews. To wrap up Week 1 I bring … Continue reading →

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Interview with Chris Watt

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with the HD148 special election, where the field is big and deep. As you have already seen and will keep seeing, there’s a lot of quality in the lineup. Chris Watt is an attorney and resident of the … Continue reading →

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Here now comes my favorite lawsuit of the year

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

OMG. Meanwhile in the Houston mayor’s race… Three candidates left off tomorrow’s debate stage — Demetria Smith, Johnny T. Taylor and Derek Broze — have filed a (very capitalized) lawsuit against @abc13houston and several others: — Jasper Scherer (@zjaspscherer) 7:30 … Continue reading →

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Interview with Penny Shaw

Posted on October 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Most of the candidates who are running in the HD148 special election are first time candidates. One who is not is Penny Shaw, who ran a strong race in 2018 for County Commissioner in Precinct 3, the most Republican precinct … Continue reading →

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Interview with Alva Treviño

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing today and running through next week I’ll be presenting interviews with candidates from the HD148 special election. Today we’re talking with Alva Treviño, one of several contenders whom I had met before this election. Treviño is on the Executive … Continue reading →

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A brief look at the Council incumbents who face contested races

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I think two, and hopefully three, of these races are truly competitive. The others, not so much. Asked how she would operate differently from City Councilwoman Karla Cisneros, the District H incumbent she is trying to unseat in November, Isabel … Continue reading →

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Interview with Anna Eastman

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

So you’ve probably heard that there’s a special election in HD148 this November, to succeed the retiring Rep. Jessica Farrar. You’ve also probably heard that there are many candidates – fifteen of them, to be exact – who are running … Continue reading →

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Let’s temper our expectations just a bit in HD28

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s an important race, and winning it would be a big boost, but let’s no go overboard. When Beto O’Rourke traveled to his home state of Texas for the recent Democratic presidential debate, he made a surprising stop: at a … Continue reading →

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Someone is opposing the Metro referendum

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose it was too optimistic to hope that the Metro referendum would not get any organized opposition. Opponents of Metro’s $3.5 billion bond referendum have formed a political action committee to lead a grass-roots campaign to curtail what they … Continue reading →

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KHOU/HPM poll: Turner 37, Buzbee 20, King 10

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We must be getting into the serious part of Houston Election Season, because we have our first public poll of the Mayor’s race. Mayor Sylvester Turner leads trial lawyer and businessman Tony Buzbee by 17 points, according to a KHOU/Houston … Continue reading →

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Interview with Matt Barnes

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Like I’ve said, the HISD Trustee elections still matter this year. One could argue, they’ve never mattered more. With two of the four Trustees that are up for election this year deciding to step down, we will get some change … Continue reading →

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Interview with Judith Cruz

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

As we’ve discussed, there are still HISD Trustee elections this year, despite the uncertainty surrounding the TEA takeover. While the Board may not have much authority during the time that the TEA-appointed board of managers is in charge, it still … Continue reading →

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Do you believe in magical thinking?

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I did not read this long profile of Tony Buzbee, because life is short and we all have better things to do. I did briefly scan the print version a bit, and in doing so I noticed the following paragraph, … Continue reading →

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Interview with Monica Flores Richart

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I’d say there are three things I want to see happen this November. I want to see Mayor Turner get re-elected, I want to see the Metro referendum pass, and I want to see Monica Flores Richart kick Dave Wilson’s … Continue reading →

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Beto v Briscoe

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I approve of this, with some small reservations. Presidential contender Beto O’Rourke is helping a fellow Democrat raise money to unseat the Texas Rep. Briscoe Cain, after the Republican lawmaker tweeted last week that his AR-15 is “ready” for O’Rourke. … Continue reading →

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Interview with Janaeya Carmouche

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Houston is a Democratic city, where the Democratic Presidential candidate has drawn 60% or more of the vote in each of the past three races. Yet we stand today with three of the five At Large Council seats being held … Continue reading →

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Where to find the HD148 candidates

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

One of the things I observed as I was frantically updating lists of who had filed to run in the HD148 special election was that some of the candidates were easier to find online than others, and that some had … Continue reading →

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No, crime is not up in Houston

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Facts are stubborn things. Like the rest of the country, crime in Houston has plummeted over the last 30 years, as has residents’ fear of crime being the city’s most pressing problem. FBI data show that most categories of crime … Continue reading →

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Interview with Raj Salhotra

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This week I will have interviews from two of the At Large races that feature challenges to sitting incumbents. First up is At Large #1, where candidate Raj Salhotra is among the four challengers to first-term incumbent Mike Knox. Salhotra … Continue reading →

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Voting centers everywhere

Posted on September 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

In Dallas: Starting in November, problems like Mr. Voter’s, at least in Dallas County, will be a thing of the past. Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office officially gave the county permission to participate in the countywide voting … Continue reading →

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Why would you run for HISD Board of Trustees this year?

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a good question. As she campaigns door-to-door to become the newest member of Houston ISD’s school board, Reagan Flowers is encountering many confused voters. They ask whether school board elections matter this year, given the growing likelihood that state officials will … Continue reading →

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It’s not really a campaign until there are attack ads

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Mayor Sylvester Turner launched a television ad Monday attacking Tony Buzbee for donating to President Donald Trump’s inauguration committee, marking the mayor’s first major attempt to link his political opponent to the … Continue reading →

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