A few things you should know before you vote early, starting tomorrow *updated*

Here's a spreadsheet of every single Democrat on your Harris County ballot.  If I haven't endorsed a race you're voting in, ask me for my recommendation in the comments.

Here's an awesome list of the best progressives across the United States running for the US Senate, House, and governor.  Just scroll down and find the Texas candidates.  Links and background are invaluable.  It's the kind of resource you should forward to your progressive friends in other states.

Update: The Texas Tribune has its primary polling results out for some statewide races this morning.  Use their own advisory about the perils associated therein as you read the campaigns spinning them to their favor.

Some testicles that need rupturing:

-- Will Texas women drive turnout for female candidates in the wake of school shootings, #MeToo, #TimesUpNow, and the conservative marginalizing of them; a parade of full-blown misogyny led by drum major Cadet Bone Spurs Trump?  Will African American women save the Democrats' bacon (as they did in Alabama) despite the fact that black statewide candidates like Michael Cooper and Chris Spellmon have been side-railed by the same Donkey elitists that have selected "Bob" O'Rourke, Andrew White, Mike Collier, and other rich white conservative men to be the standard-bearers for Texas Democrats in 2018?

-- Will black Democrats do what they didn't in 2016 -- save the Donkeys?  Or not?

-- Texas Latin@s may lift Lupe Valdez, Roman McAllen, Miguel Sauzo and others, but why not Sema Hernandez?  Is this the 'Bob as Beto' effect?  Was this his plan?

In the big picture: will they be motivated to come back in droves in November with issues critical to them at the forefront of the political debate -- the border wall, the DREAMers?  Or will they be demoralized by national Democrats' repeated failures to do right by them in that regard?

All open questions.

-- Texas Leftist wondered where the money was in the D primary for governor.  I can see where a big wad of it went (Alabama), and I doubt those people are tapped out.

Texas donors (to Doug Jones) included Dallas heiress Patricia Walker and New Braunfels resident William Holliday. Walker gave over $5,900 to Jones. Holliday gave just over $3,100 to Jones. Others to give at least $2,700 to Jones included Houston attorney Kathy Patrick and H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt.

In total, Jones raised $849,000 from Texans for his entire campaign. Moore pulled in $597,000.

They're probably just waiting for March 6's dust to settle.  Or at least Team Blue ought to hope that's the case.

One of Wayne's featured posts, his fawning 2014 endorsement of Nico LaHood as Bexar County's DA, is laugh-out loud ridiculous in light of recent developments.  If you can't click over, then just get a load of this headline from the Daily Beast: "Texas’ Anti-Islam, Anti-Vaccine, Born-Again Christian Candidate is a Democrat".

-- Stace picked the wrong week to endorse a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned back to Democrat gun fetishist for Harris County treasurer.  Yes, Nile Copeland is a nice guy to have coffee with.  But when he called asking for my endorsement, I had to wonder why somebody coming back to the Democrats from the right would want the imprimatur of somebody coming back to the Democrats from the left.  His explanation for his conversion was, paraphrased, that he was "doing reconnaissance behind enemy lines".

Not buying that.  He bragged at the time about being welcomed to the HCRP with open arms.  He's also still the sort of fellow who liked to visit Louisiana so he could walk around open-carrying (this was years before Texas passed its open carry law, mind you).  Ask him about Concealed Carry Reciprocity the next time you see him.

-- Moni at Transgriot (Jackass Jef Rouner is a big fan) has an endorsement slate that's about half-good, half shit.  I'm not gonna fisk it but if you know who I support and who I don't, you can figure her completely illiogical list out for yourself.  As for Rouner: right message, wrong messengers.

Here's the P-Slate for March 6, 2018.

For US Senate: You should know by now that I'm voting for Sema.  She's making a public appearance at Lone Star College-CyFair tonight, and I've alerted the media via Twitter.  Her debate with "Bob" O'Rourke is scheduled for the 21st, and despite his promise to debate his primary opponents, you should not expect him to show up.  This is completely characteristic of him.  He consistently says one thing and does the opposite.

If he and Ted Cruz and some stoner Libertarian are the only ones on my November ballot, I will undervote the race.

For US Congress, 7th District: Here's Down With Tyranny on CD-07, and a brief overview of the Congressional landscape in Texas.

The thing is about the Texas primaries is that they're going to, in most cases, lead to primary runoffs on May 22. So we're going to be waiting for another couple of months before we know who the candidates we have going up against Republicans for blue-trending seats in Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, all of which are likely to deny any candidates 50% on March 6. It's a wide open race in west Houston, where award-winning cancer researcher and doctor Jason Westin has a bunch of establishment candidates he's competing with, as well as another progressive.

The "other progressive" is Laura Moser, my preferred.  My second choice is Westin.  The good doctor is best on Medicare for All but slips in my rankings because he has described himself in candidate fora as a 'moderate on all other issues', and cautioned TX-07 voters 'not to go too far left'.  I would have liked having my endorsement of Moser to be as well-received as Moni at Transgriot's, but my ego doesn't need that much stroking.

Two votes for Moser from this household.  But if she doesn't make the runoff and Westin does, I'll cast my ballot for him in May.  My two options in case neither Moser or Westin are there in late spring are Joshua Butler and Ivan Sanchez.  I will not vote for Alex T, or Lizzie PF, or Cargas in March or in May.  And may not in November, either.

Our candidate in Austin/San Antonio, Derrick Crowe, one of the best candidates anywhere in America, is likely to be forced into a runoff with a multi-millionaire Republican, Joseph Kopser, pretending-- although not well-- to be a Democrat. Same in Dallas, where our candidate, Lillian Salerno, Obama's deputy undersecretary of rural development for the Department of Agriculture, is facing off against two pretty garden variety establishment big money careerists.

Here's what Kopser said recently about the border wall.  Here's what DWT said about Salerno.

For Texas Governor:  Tom Wakely.

This piece from Mike Ward at the Chron's Austin bureau is still the best short-form analysis of all candidates for governor save Janis Richards, the Texas Green Party candidate who must petition to get on the ballot.  (Disregard Demetria Smith; she was disqualified when her filing fee check bounced.)

The media and Democratic bastions of labor and GLBT would have you believe that there only two candidates for governor: Andrew White (simply unacceptable) and Lupe Valdez (simply unprepared).  I will sooner vote for Cedric Davis or Joe Mumbach in a runoff than either of the two alleged front-runners.  If they are my only choices in May I can skip the race and vote Green in November.

All this potential #DemExit 2.0 I'm probably going to be faced with is no joke.  Blue Dogs gonna have to learn they can't shit on the left side of the grassroots and not get it rubbed back in their faces as part of the lesson.  It looks like 2016 all over again at this point to me.  I hope I'm wrong.

Update: The TexTrib's numbers (provided they have some basis in projecting reality) don't surprise me.  White's money and establishment endorsements aren't buying him any love, and as I blogged way back in November, Valdez -- though woefully unfit at this time for the job -- is the best hope for a blue wave of Texas Dems downballot, based on their kneejerk, identity politics decision-making thought process. 

Update (2/19, p.m.):

-- For Lite Gov, TX AG, Comptroller, Land Commish, Ag Commish, and Railroad Commish:

Michael Cooper, Justin Nelson, Tim Mahoney, Miguel Suazo, Kim Olson, and either Roman McAllen or Chris Spellmon.

Most of these have been previously endorsed here, in my December posts about the progressives on the local ballot.  I moved Spellmon up as co-endorsee because he earned the Our Revolution endorsement (according to Carl Davis' Facebook account of the meeting).

-- For Texas Supreme Court Justice, Places 2, 4 and 6; and for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Presiding Judge and Place 7:

Steven Kirkland, RK Sandill, Kathy Cheng, Maria Jackson, and Ramona Franklin.  All previously blogged here (scroll down).  All are Houstonians; all are people of color save Kirkland, who is gay and a longtime family friend.  The rest know me less well except for Judge Jackson (I almost served her court as a grand juror once, but my business schedule at the time would have precluded participating).  More on the candidates and their Republican opponents from the Chron, from late November 2017.

This is as fine a slate of judicial candidates as the Texas Democratic Party has ever been graced to be represented by.  We MUST get some balance on the state's highest benches.

All of the Democrats running unopposed in their primaries for state courts of appeals seats in the Houston area (1st and 14th) merit my vote.  I can make no recommendation in the 14th, Place 8 tilt between Margaret Poissant and Michele Chimene.

In contested state district judge contests, I'll be voting for Rabeea Collier (113th criminal), Jason Luong (185th criminal), Fred Cook (189th civil), Barbara Stalder (280th family), Kathy Vossler (309th family), Tracy Good (313th juvenile), Harold Landreneau (County Criminal At Law #2), Kris Ougrah (CCAL#15) and Michael Galligan (Judge, County Probate Court At Law #4).

Lina Hidalgo, (County Judge), Diane Trautman (County Clerk), and Marilyn Burgess (District Clerk) are all my favorites for Harris County executives.

Other Houston-area races ...

CD-02:  Add J. Darnell Jones and Ali Khorasani to my list of prefered candidates to replace Ted Poe in this Montrose and far-flung northeast side suburban seat.  Silky Malik remains a good choice, Jones has bonafides, and Khorasani is the DSA-backed candidate.  Anybody but Todd Litton, please.

CD-29: Hector Morales.

I'd like to see the voters on the east side turn away from the two establishment candidates, Sylvia Garcia and Tahir Javed, and put in a freshman who will be serious about undoing the long, fetid, corporate and fossil-fueled legacy of one of the most flea-bitten Blue Dogs in Congress, Gene Green.

CD-36: I favor Dayna Steele but her primary challenger Jon Powell is also an excellent candidate.  I'm hoping many of these fine folks will not drop out of political participation because they were unable to navigate crowded primaries.

State Senator, District 17: Either Fran Watson or Rita Lucido.  I was gerrymandered out of SD-17, some years ago; both women are top notch candidates, and incumbent Republican Joan Huffman needs to be turned out.

HD-134: It might be a little more than imperative for Allison Sawyer to win this primary over Lloyd Oliver, because Greg Abbott stands a puncher's chance of knocking out incumbent Republican Rep. Sarah Davis.  Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- wants to have to choose between Oliver and Susanna Dokupil, who will be Abbott's puppet, a flack for Empower Texans, and advance the worst of the bills churned out by TXGOP policy mills like TPPF.

Though Sawyer's background as an oil and gas company woman and her website with a picture of her in front of a refinery provides no solace to me personally.  "Not Lloyd Oliver", as with those Democrats who are mostly running "Trump Sucks" campaigns, is not offering the voters enough hope and change.  If I still lived in this district I would be sorely tempted to just pinch my nostrils and vote in the GOP primary for everybody running against the incumbents statewide ... and Sarah Davis.

That's not an endorsement.  Of either Sawyer or Davis.

HD-138: Jenifer Rene Pool over Adam Milasincic.  The HGLBT Caucus -- and Moni, again -- simply doesn't like Pool, a transgender candidate for City Hall a couple of times prior to this bid for the statehouse.  I don't care for Adam after having read this account at the Texas Observer about how he busted the SEIU and Janitors for Justice when they fought for a raise almost ten years ago.

As a sidebar, virtually the entire Caucus Card of endorsements -- usually a good resource -- is more than a little questionable this cycle.  It's not available on their website yet, and their Twitter feed hasn't been updated either with a full listing.  The Caucus has, very uncharacteristically, fallen down on the job.  My advice is to simply disregard their choices.

HD-146: Shawn Thierry, my representative, was outstanding as a freshman in the last session, particularly in calling attention to the crisis of maternal mortality in Texas.  She's earned re-election and more substantive committee assignments in 2019.

That's it for now.  Let's hear from you in the comments.