The 2022 Midterm Elections in Texas

The General (Midterm) Election Day this year is November 8 (early voting starts October 24), and the Texas Tribune has published ballot information.

Local

Mayor

  • Bobby Gutierrez
  • Brent Hairston
  • Mike Southerland

Single Member District No. 1

  • Raul Santana
  • Paul Torres

Single Member District No. 2

  • Ray Arrington
  • Rafael Peña III

Single Member District No. 3

  • Doris Machinski
  • Jared Salvato

Single Member District No. 5

  • Marca Ewers-Shurtleff
  • Anjuli “A.J.” Renold
  • Kyle R. Schumann

At Large, Place 6

  • Kevin C. Boriskie
  • Patrick Giammalva

U.S. House District 10

  • Michael T. McCaul (R) [Incumbent]
  • Linda Nuno (D)
  • Bill Kelsey (L)

Texas Senate District 5

  • Charles Schwertner (R) [Incumbent]
  • Tommy Estes (L)

Texas House District 14

  • John Raney (R) [Incumbent]
  • Jeff Miller (L)

State Board Of Education District 10

  • Tom Maynard (R) [Incumbent]

Statewide

Governor

  • Greg Abbott (R) [Incumbent]
  • Beto O’Rourke (D)
  • Mark Tippetts (L)
  • Delilah Barrios (G)

Lieutenant Governor

  • Dan Patrick (R) [Incumbent]
  • Mike Collier (D)
  • Shanna Steele (L)

Attorney General

  • Ken Paxton (R) [Incumbent]
  • Rochelle Garza (D)
  • Mark Ash (L)

Land Commissioner

  • Dawn Buckingham (R)
  • Jay Kleberg (D)
  • Alfred Molison (G)

Agriculture Commissioner

  • Sid Miller (R) [Incumbent]
  • Susan Hays (D)

Comptroller

  • Glenn Hegar (R) [Incumbent]
  • Janet T. Dudding (D)
  • V. Alonzo Echevarria-Garza (L)

Railroad Commissioner

  • Wayne Christian (R) [Incumbent]
  • Luke Warford (D)
  • Jaime Andrés Díez (L)
  • Hunter Crow (G)

The 2022 Primary Election in Texas

It’s midterm election season once again, and somethings have changed: the Texas Legislature redrew district maps. I was in US Congressional District 17, now District 10. My State House District stayed 14. My State Senate District stayed 5. I was State Board of Education District 8, now District 10.

The Primary Election this year is March 1 (early voting starts February 14), and the General Election will be November 8 (early voting starts October 24). As usual, the Texas Tribune has a useful primary election guide.

Continue reading

Terrible Trifecta

On Friday, September 18, 2020, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dead at age 87 – just 45 days before Election Day – thus leaving a power vacuum in the highest court of the land. (There are now 5 conservative and 3 liberal justices.) Thus the stage is set for a terrible trifecta: a Supreme Court battle, a contentious presidential election, and a worsening (COVID-19) pandemic.

The 2018 Primary Election in Texas

The Primary Election this year is March 6 (early voting starts February 20, in 2 weeks), and the General Election will be November 6 (early voting starts October 22). So far it’s a pretty quiet election – no hotly contested seats; Ted Cruz might have to campaign to keep his seat in the Senate.

UPDATE: More than 30 races are headed to runoffs on May 22. I think I’m eligible to vote for one: Lupe Valdez (D) and Andrew White (D) for governor. Source: Texas Tribune.

U.S. Senate (Texas)

  • Ted Cruz (R) – incumbent
  • Geraldine Sam (R)
  • Mary Miller (R)
  • Bruce Jacobson, Jr. (R)
  • Stefano de Stefano (R)
  • Beto O’Rourke (D)
  • Edward Kimbrough (D)
  • Sema Hernandez (D)

U.S. House of Representatives (District 17 Texas)

  • Bill Flores (R) – incumbent
  • Rick Kennedy (D)
  • Dale Mantey (D)

Texas Governor

  • Greg Abbott (R) – incumbent
  • Barbara Krueger (R)
  • Larry “Secede” Kilgore (R)
  • James Jolly Clark (D)
  • Cedric Davis (D)
  • Joe Mumbach (D)
  • Adrian Ocegueda (D)
  • Jeffrey Payne (D)
  • Lupe Valdez (D)
  • Tom Wakely (D)
  • Andrew White (D)
  • Grady Yarbrough (D)

Texas Lieutenant Governor

  • Dan Patrick (R) – incumbent
  • Scott Milder (R)
  • Mike Collier (D)
  • Michael Cooper (D)

Texas Attorney General

Texas Senate (District 5)

  • Charles Schwertner (R) – incumbent
  • Harold Ramm (R)
  • Glenn “Grumpy” Williams (D)
  • Brian E. Cronin (D)
  • Meg Walsh (D)

Texas House of Representatives (District 14)

  • John Raney (R) – incumbent
  • Jeston Texeira (R)
  • Sarah Laningham (R)
  • Rick Davis (R)
  • Josh Wilkinson (D)
  • Alex Vidal (D)

Comptroller of Public Accounts

  • Glenn Hegar (R) – incumbent
  • Tim Mahoney (D)
  • Joi Chevalier (D)

Commissioner of the General Land Office

  • George P. Bush (R) – incumbent
  • Davey Edwards (R)
  • Jerry Patterson (R)
  • Rick Range (R)
  • Tex Morgan (D)
  • Miguel Suazo (D)

Commissioner of Agriculture

  • Sid Miller (R) – incumbent
  • Trey Blocker (R)
  • Jim Hogan (R)
  • Kim Olson (D)

Railroad Commissioner

  • Christi Craddick (R) – incumbent
  • Weston Martinez (R)
  • Chris Spellmon (D)
  • Roman McAllen (D)

District Judge, (Texas) 85th Judicial District

  • Kyle Hawthorne (R) – incumbent

District Judge, (Texas) 272nd Judicial District

  • Travis B. Bryan III (R) – Next election 2020

District Judge, (Texas) 361st Judicial District

  • Steve Smith (R) – incumbent

District Attorney – Brazos County

  • Jarvis Parsons (R) – Next election 2020

Sheriff – Brazos County

  • Chris Kirk – Next election 2020

Read More

Texas Voter ID Law and the 2016 Election

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said the [Texas Voter ID] law violates the Voting Rights Act.

On July 20, a federal appeals court found a Texas voter-identification law discriminates against blacks and Hispanics, and ordered that temporary remedies be put in place by the November election. Source: Wall Street Journal.

This is the same 5th Circuit Court that I wrote about last year (and the year before last) allowed Texas to keep the law because it was too close to elections to change it. Apparently, a couple weeks makes the difference in being too close to an election. The election is now 109 days away.

The lower court hasn’t fixed it in 2 years, so I don’t see them doing much with it now. They may follow the Wisconsin example and accept affidavits from affected voters who swear they can’t get a photo ID.

You’re hearing it here first: I predict someone will go to Mexico and “collect” a lot of signed affidavits from people that are unable to get government IDs. That’s right up there with the dead voting.

Yeah, there’s no room for fraud in an affidavit system.

The 2016 Primary Election in Texas

The date for the 2016 Primary election in Texas is March 1. Early voting is February 16 – 26.

Here’s a look at who’s on the ballot in Brazos County, Texas.

Asterisk (*) indicates incumbent. Strikethrough indicates withdrawn/drop-out.

President/Vice President

  • Martin J. O’Malley (D)
  • Star Locke (D)
  • Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente (D)
  • Bernie Sanders (D)
  • Calvis L. Hawes (D)
  • Willie L. Wilson (D)
  • Keith Judd (D)
  • Hillary Clinton (D)
  • Lincoln Chafee (D)
  • Lawrence Lessig (D)
  • Jim Webb (D)

U.S. House of Representatives (District 17)

  • Bill Flores (R)*
  • Ralph Patterson (R)
  • Kaleb Sims (R)
  • William Matta (D)

Texas House of Representatives (District 14)

  • John Raney (R)*
  • Jess Fields (R)

Texas Supreme Court

Place 3

  • Debra Lehrmann (R)
  • Michael Massengale (R)
  • Mike Westergren (D)

Place 5

  • Rick Green (R)
  • Paul Green (R)
  • Dori Contreras Garza (D)

Place 9

  • Eva Guzman (R)
  • Joe Pool (R)
  • Savannah Robinson (D)

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Place 2

  • Mary Lou Keel (R)
  • Chris Oldner (R)
  • Ray Wheless (R)
  • Lawrence “Larry” Meyers (D)

Place 5

  • Sid Harle (R)
  • Steve Smith (R)
  • Scott Walker (R)
  • Brent Webster (R)
  • Betsy Johnson (D)

Place 6

  • Michael E. Keasler (R)
  • Richard Davis (R)
  • Robert Burns (D)

Texas Courts of Appeals (District 10)

Place 3

  • Al Scoggins (R)

Comptroller of Public Accounts

  • Debra Medina (R)
  • Glenn Hegar (R)*
  • Harvey Hilderbran (R)
  • Raul Torres (R)
  • Mike Collier (D)

Commissioner of the General Land Office

  • George P. Bush (R)*
  • David Watts (R)
  • John Cook (D)

Commissioner of Agriculture

  • Sid Miller (R)*
  • Eric Opiela (R)
  • J. Allen Carnes (R)
  • Joe Cotten (R)
  • Tommy Merritt (R)
  • Hugh Asa Fitzsimons III (D)
  • Jim Hogan (D)
  • Richard “Kinky” Friedman (D)

Railroad Commissioner

  • Weston Martinez (R)
  • John Greytok (R)
  • Gary Gates (R)
  • Ron Hale (R)
  • Lance N. Christian (R)
  • Wayne Christian (R)
  • Doug Jeffrey (R)
  • Lon Burnam (D)
  • Cody Garrett (D)
  • Grady Yarbrough (D)

Texas State Board of Education Member (District 8)

  • Barbara Cargill (R)*

District Courts – Brazos County

272nd District Court Judge

  • Travis Bryan III (R)*

85th District Attorney – Brazos County

  • Jarvis Parsons (R)*

Sheriff – Brazos County

  • Chris Kirk (R)*
  • Miguel C. Vasquez (R)

Tax Assessor-Collector

  • Kristeen Roe (R)*

County Commissioner Pct. 1

  • Lloyd Wassermann (R)*
  • Steve Aldrich (R)

County Commissioner Pct. 3

  • Gabriel Garcia (R)
  • Nancy Berry (R)

 Read More

Voter ID’s and Elections

8-6--8-12-forcastAs we enter the hottest days of of the year – the forecast calls for at least 7 days of 100+ F temperatures – the arguments of last year’s election and the Texas Voter ID law is starting to heat up too.

To recap, last year I wrote in Voter ID Law in Texas:

On Tuesday, October 14, the Texas GOP successfully appealed the blocked law.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals allows the law to be used in the November election, despite a lower judge’s ruling that the law is unconstitutional. The 5th Circuit did not rule on the law’s merits; instead, it determined it’s too late to change the rules for the election. Source abcnews.com

They said while it may cause harm to some voters, the greater harm would come from disrupting the election statewide.

Yesterday, the same 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law “runs afoul of parts of the federal Voting Right Act…”

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 2011 Texas law runs afoul of parts of the federal Voting Rights Act – handing down the decision on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights law. Source: AP.org

However, the court sent the law back to the lower courts to fix the discriminatory effects. Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General, said the law will stand. Ironically, he’s currently under indictment for felony securities fraud. Suffice it to say, this issue isn’t finished.


First-GOP-debate-2015Speaking of things heating up, the 2016 presidential election, which is 459 days away, is getting started with the first GOP debate tonight – brought to you by (they chose 10 debaters based on the highest average of 5 polls) and broadcasted on Fox News. The 10 are Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich. The number of potential GOP candidates is overwhelming – something like 39 have declared!

With all the drama, this is starting to look like a reality tv show: Survivor or Big Brother or America’s Got Talent. “Retiring” Jon Stewart said it best on his show last night, “[Fox News] will decide the next leader of the free world…WTF is going on here!”

I have a feeling this election is going to be colossal – colossally expensive, and a colossal waste of time on commercials. Hillary Clinton (don’t get me started) is going to start running ads this week. Did I mention we’re 459 days away from the election.

UPDATE:

20150820-deeznutsA surging Independent candidate, Deez Nuts, is taking the polls – and the world – by storm. A 15-year-old boy from Iowa registered as a candidate under the name Deez Nuts, and the Internet loves him. The name trended on Twitter for a day. Everybody wants to know more about him. His real name is Brady Olsen.

This picture is a screen shot from the coverage of the North Carolina poll held August 20, 2015.

2014 Election Results, Who Represents Brazos County Texas

Refer to my earlier post about the 2014 Primary/Election for candidates of this midterm election. This is a small list of the people that represent Brazos County Texas.

U.S. President – Next Election 2016

U.S. Senate (Texas)

U.S. House of Representatives (District 17 Texas)

Texas Senate (District 5)

Texas House of Representatives (District 14)

District Attorney – Brazos County

Read More