Wednesday, March 07, 2018

*heavy sigh*


As Election Day got under way, Houston City Council member Larry Green -- my representative downtown -- was found deceased in his bed at home after failing to appear at the regularly-scheduled weekly council meeting.  Just 52, it's a tremendous loss for the city, District K, and of course his family and friends.  His political future was quite bright.  And his legacy will encapsulate many things, but every time I see one of the painted electrical boxes in my 'hood, I'll think of him warmly.


As to a couple of top-of-the-ticket results from last night ...

-- Projected almost precisely by the TexTrib's poll from just over two weeks ago, Lupe Valdez and Andrew (Average) White (Guy) will run off in May for the right to get crushed by face Greg Abbott in November.  They finished at 42.9 and 27.4% respectively; the TT predicted 43-24.  Likewise, the Trib had Abbott prevailing with 95% in his primary; he underperformed that slightly at 90.4.  << This link has the final tallies for all the statewide, Congressional, judicial, and statehouse races I'll be referring to in this and subsequent posts.  Just click and open it now so you can scroll down as I continue.  It's the best resource I found, for the county maps alone.  (Credit where it's due: the TexTrib has beaten the pants off everybody else this cycle.)

My man Tom Wakely gained no traction.  The two African American candidates, Cedric Davis and Grady Yarbrough, along with Jeff Payne and even Adrian Ocegueda, finished ahead of him.  Valdez will win the runoff easily if Latin@s return in the summer.  But she needs to start raising some money, get better coaching and preparation if she's going to debate White, and otherwise project some viability as a potential and likely favored nominee.

-- Sema Hernandez earned almost 246,000 votes (or 23.7%) in the D US Senate primary.  She raised less than $10K for her campaign.  I'll let you nerds do the math on her cost per vote.  She won about three dozen mostly rural and RGV counties; Webb (Laredo) appears to be the largest.  Considering the degree to which she was both ignored and disrespected by the media and her primary opponent, that's amazing.  O'Rourke didn't 'coast', folks.  And because the GOP gorged their turnout numbers on Election Day -- the Senate primary on the R side drew over 1.5 million votes, while the Dems totaled just over a million, and Ted Cruz has already fired a shot at "liberal man Robert" -- the prospects for the blue wave seem to be ... swirling?

More on the way.

Monday, March 05, 2018

Final thoughts before the vote tomorrow

You already have my recommendations, so let's just provide an executive summary.

-- Sema Hernandez:


Well, you had better not.

It's been one of my deepest privileges to be associated with this candidate, her campaign, its nationwide presence and clout (just check her Tweet feed).  What she has accomplished has been against the headwinds of purposeful media ignorance, disrespect from her campaign opponent and, as usual, the Texas Democratic Party and its associated cohorts.

This piece from yesterday's Chronicle (firewalled after a few free clicks) and the accompanying video (she appears in the early part) was the best she received.  If Bob O'Rourke falls just short of defeating 'Poop' Cruz in the fall, I sincerely hope it is because of the votes of people like me that he loses, and also the blog posts I will write over the next several months that will continue to expose him for the fraud that I have found him to be.

Sincerely.

-- Tom Wakely:

Plain as day.  Andrew White is just bad news (as Aimee Cunningham reminds Texas women) and Lupe Valdez is just not ready.  Since there will almost certainly be a runoff, then I hope one of these two fails to make it.  If that happens, I'll at least be able to vote for the person not named White or Valdez in May.  This is a moment when a functioning Texas Green Party would have come in extraordinarily handy in November.  Alas ...

I'll return to that topic after tomorrow's primary election results get parsed.  Suffice it to say that I would like to hear from prospective gubernatorial candidate Janis Richards as to whether her bid to achieve ballot access as Green will go forward.  Or not.  Though a relative newcomer to the HCGP, she aligned with the Old White Guard against the black woman who finally succeeded in sweeping that trash out the door a week ago, at their monthly meeting/annual election of officers.  Bully on Bernadine Williams, whom I stood with a year ago against this crew.  I quit on the locals after that; she did not.  And she persevered.  It's the Pottery Barn rule for her now, though; she must rebuild the county party apparatus (which is essentially the same as the state party) with a goal toward functionality for 2020.  I just think the laws and internal obstacles regarding ballot access for 2018 are too stacked against them.  Couple that with the fact that the Democratic Socialists are ascendant, and it's a hard, heavy lift even if the Greens were united.

-- Enough has been said and written about the Texas Seventh Congressional District Democratic primary in the ten days since I posted this that linking to it all would take hours.  Check the #TX07 Twitter hashtag for the latest.  Forces aligned against Laura Moser include not just the Clintonistas and the Pelosiites, but the Republicans as well.  This should tell you all you need to know.

-- Last ... the only primary race on my ballot that I undervoted was the very last one, for Harris County chair.  I have not found the incumbent, Lillie Schechter, representative of my beliefs (since I'm an ultrasoft Democrat on a good day, and a Green on my best one, this should stand to reason).

The county chair needs a day job since the political one doesn't pay.  The problem here is that Schechter has been on the payroll of state senator (and CD-29 aspirant) Sylvia Garcia for several recent pay periods.  This isn't breaking news for those of you connected to the local D establishment's Facebook accounts, where the apparent ethical lapse has been mentioned more than a few times.  I've also been provided screenshots and CFRs that verify it.

No conflict of interest there, right?

Update: El Paso Democrats appear to have the same problem.  (At least he's 'former chair'.)

It's beyond my comprehension how the people who whine about Laura Moser's husband's consulting firm handling her business can seemingly overlook this more glaring, hypocritical contradiction.  Is there anybody who wants to explain this to me?  I'll keep an open mind if something is not as it appears.  For ... oh, another week or so.  The goose's sauce should have simmered long enough to be served by then.

-- If you haven't already, go vote tomorrow.  And don't wait until 6:30 p.m. to do so.

Election Eve Wrangle

Massive turnout in early voting across Texas is the news everyone is talking about as campaigns, candidates, and volunteers make the final push for Election Day.  The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes to congratulate tomorrow night's winners and console those who don't, offering encouragment to refocus (in some way of their choosing) for November.
As one of the perceived front-runners in the Texas Democratic primary for governor, Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer says that it's impossible to determine Lupe Valdez's chances of winning.

Grits for Breakfast posts his collation of criminal justice news that includes the growing movement on the part of some Republicans (!) to end the partisan election of judges in Texas.  A GOP 3rd Court of Appeals prospect is evidence of the problem that needs fixing.

In his compilation of Harris County judicial candidates on both primary ballots, attorney Murray Newman makes an inside joke -- see comments; since corrected -- about Brian Warren, the Democrat running against the vile GOP incumbent Michael McSpadden, about whom you may have read something recently.  Congrats to Murray, by the way, for ten years of blogging.  And Mark Bennett (a Libertarian statewide judicial candidate in recent years) demonstrates what disrespect for the justice system really looks like.

From Lewisville, the Texan Journal reports that the conservative extremists at Empower Texans have taken a few swipes at the mayor and the school board in that city.  In last week's Wrangle, you'll recall that Texas Monthly called out MQS, et. al. for similar tactics in HD-99 (Fort Worth).

Also from last week, you'll remember that OpenSecrets mentioned a retired Texan who gave $500,000 to a GOP org.  The TexTrib followed up on that.

The super PAC, #ProjectRedTX, has quietly raised a half a million dollars — from a single donor — as it looks to ensure Republican dominance in Texas through the next round of redistricting. Those efforts are ramping up as the state prepares to defend its current congressional and state House district maps before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The group is being helmed by Wayne Hamilton, (Gov. Greg) Abbott's 2014 campaign manager, according to a person familiar with the effort. Hamilton, a former longtime executive director of the Texas GOP, has been involved in politics for the past three redistricting cycles.

The Texas Observer sees a blue wave that won't have much green (as in cash) behind it.  Is that a good thing for progressive populism or a bad thing from a pragmatic POV?  Tell me in the comments.

Chris Ladd at Political Orphans sees 'something happening' in Texas.  Excerpt:

What we’ve never seen in Texas is a surge in primary turnout from the party out of power in an off-year election. Even in the watershed year of ’94, the only hint we saw of the coming wave was Republicans closing the gap in voter participation slightly. In statewide elections, serious Democratic candidates generally lose to Republicans by about a 9-point swing. That sounds daunting until you look at the raw numbers and the structure of the (one party, for almost 25 years) system. Turnout among eligible voters in Texas off-year elections ranges between about a quarter and a third. Eligible voter turnout hasn’t approached half in the fifty years that Texas has published the statistic. Texans don’t vote ... until one day they do.

Bonddad's thoughts for Sunday contains some empirical data that supports a similar premise.

Put this all together and the basic fact is that the 2018 voting population is going to be considerably more liberal and Democratic than the 2014 population, even if millennials turn out only in percentages consistent with younger voters in other midterm elections.

Off the Kuff wrapped up his look at Beto O'Rourke's visit-everywhere campaign strategy with hope and a sense that it's worth doing this way regardless of the outcome.

SocraticGadfly takes note of the DNC fraud lawsuit appeal, and while he still thinks something is there, is glad Jared Beck ain't his lawyer.

Scott Braddock documents Greg Abbott's contempt for Republican legislators.

Better Texas Blog explains why Medicaid work requirements are a lousy idea.

Millard Fillmore's Bathtub points out that spring comes about a month earlier than it did for our grandparents.  It's just another marker in the looming cataclysm that is climate change.

The Lunch Tray highlights some bad food research.

Neil at All People Have Value made note of the weekly John Cornyn Houston office protest.

Chris Conde at the SA Current asks if we really need a shopping bag with Selena's likeness on it to celebrate her legacy.

And Harry Hamid's latest post has a little bit of everything: Captain Beefheart, paranoia, snow in Houston ...

Friday, March 02, 2018