And as Bill O'Reilly observed, goes out again. We can't explain that (but that won't stop us from trying). From the top of my ballot....
-- Cornyn 62, Alameel 34, Libertarian Paddock almost 3, Green "Spicybrown" Sanchez, 1.17%. The historical Texas election trends hold except for Alameel, who was a few points points weaker than the upper part of the Democratic statewide slate. Does anyone want to see this man carry the banner again in2016 2018 against Ted Cruz, as he has forewarned us? For all the purported danger Cornyn was supposed to be in from a primary challenger like David Barton or Steve Stockman, the freaks all came back home to him. He stands on the cusp of leading the Senate's new majority caucus... if Cruz lets him.
-- Culberson 63, Cargas 34.5, Lib 2%. I'm just disappointed that Cargas hit the over in my personal handicapping (I had him at 33, which is where he was most of the night) of his second defeat at the hands of Cumbersome. I'm not going to be voting for any oil and gas attorneys running for anything any more, ever.
-- Abbott 59, Davis 39, Glass 1.40, Parmer .39%. Everybody underperformed expectations... except Abbott and Parmer. The worst and latest poll had Davis losing by 16. There will be recriminations aplenty, but I for one won't be piling on BGTX. I do not know what the value of their efforts were in terms of raw votes or percentages, but anybody who throws rocks at their Aegean-stables cleaning efforts needs to sit down and shut up. Frankly the only thing that has motivated a groundswell of Democratic support in Texas in my lifetime is when there is a tightly-contested presidential primary between an establishment, conservative candidate and a (perceived, at least) left-leaning, agent-of-change challenger. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders: pick up the white paging telephone please.
-- Patrick 58, Van de Putte 39, Butler 2.55, Courtney .59%. LVDP clocked in with about 22,000 fewer votes than Davis in statewide returns that are 98.77% complete at this posting. That should put to rest any arguments that she would have fared better at the top of the ticket. This article suggests that either the Latino Decisions poll released on Election Day was off... or that Patrick received some massive amount of the "non-Latino" vote. I think it's both of those.
As his first agenda item upon the inauguration of his term as Your Lieutenant Governor, Patrick will issue a fatwa declaring that all Texas women will wear burqas for the next two years. And that's going to be as liberal as it gets, ladies. I cannot wait to see if he carried the female vote in some equivalent number to Abbott (52-47 by the exit polls). That's a statement that will be repeated often, you can be certain. Update: CNN's exit polling says it was a nine-point margin.
-- Paxton 59, Houston 38, Balagia 2.53, Osborne .63%. Paxton's pending legal issues dissuaded no Republicans from voting for him. The GOP vote is as monolithic as can be imagined.
-- Hegar 58, Collier 37.67, Sanders 2.67, Shafto .97%. The first statewide contest that showed some slight erosion away from the two major party candidates. Libertarian Ben Sanders had the second-highest showing for the Libs in both vote total and percentage; he got twice as many votes as Kathie Glass, the now-two-time Libertarian gubernatorial loser. Deb Shafto increased her numbers about 15K and half of a percent from the baseline of candidates preceding her on the ballot, largely I think on the basis of her being the Green gubernatorial candidate in 2010.
-- Bush 60.7, Cook 35.3, Knight 2.71, Alessi 1.28%. George Pee got more votes than Greg Abbott, folks. And the Green candidate, Valerie Alessi, slightly over-performed ticketmates above her, but not those below, as we will see again in a moment.
-- Miller 58.6, Hogan 36.8, Palmquist 2.87, Kendrick 1.68%. It's disappointing that my man Kenneth did not see the surge of support I envisioned. This is the cause and effect of straight ticket voting demonstrated in all its appalling ignorance. Jim Hogan should not have received a single vote, period. It's difficult to encourage Democrats to vote when they make choices this poor when they do.
-- Sitton 58, Brown 36.5, Miller, 3.15, Salinas 2%. The Green, Martina Salinas, benefited from her Latino surname as much as a vigorous campaign, the highest-profile one of all Greens. She got nearly 93,000 votes, the largest amount of any G in a contested (with a Democrat) race. Maybe there are a few Texans who like the idea of a committed environmentalist sitting on the board of commissioners that regulate the oil and gas industry in Texas. Steve Brown, the only African American on the statewide ballot for Democrats, fell short of Jim Hogan's tally despite running an all-out campaign. And Mark Miller scored almost the highest of any statewide Libertarian in a contested race.
These lower-ballot statewide tilts seem to offer the greatest opportunity for the minor parties to make an impact. We'll watch and see if they take this lesson to heart for the future.
Back today with a post about statewide judicial races and turnout.
-- Cornyn 62, Alameel 34, Libertarian Paddock almost 3, Green "Spicybrown" Sanchez, 1.17%. The historical Texas election trends hold except for Alameel, who was a few points points weaker than the upper part of the Democratic statewide slate. Does anyone want to see this man carry the banner again in
-- Culberson 63, Cargas 34.5, Lib 2%. I'm just disappointed that Cargas hit the over in my personal handicapping (I had him at 33, which is where he was most of the night) of his second defeat at the hands of Cumbersome. I'm not going to be voting for any oil and gas attorneys running for anything any more, ever.
-- Abbott 59, Davis 39, Glass 1.40, Parmer .39%. Everybody underperformed expectations... except Abbott and Parmer. The worst and latest poll had Davis losing by 16. There will be recriminations aplenty, but I for one won't be piling on BGTX. I do not know what the value of their efforts were in terms of raw votes or percentages, but anybody who throws rocks at their Aegean-stables cleaning efforts needs to sit down and shut up. Frankly the only thing that has motivated a groundswell of Democratic support in Texas in my lifetime is when there is a tightly-contested presidential primary between an establishment, conservative candidate and a (perceived, at least) left-leaning, agent-of-change challenger. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders: pick up the white paging telephone please.
-- Patrick 58, Van de Putte 39, Butler 2.55, Courtney .59%. LVDP clocked in with about 22,000 fewer votes than Davis in statewide returns that are 98.77% complete at this posting. That should put to rest any arguments that she would have fared better at the top of the ticket. This article suggests that either the Latino Decisions poll released on Election Day was off... or that Patrick received some massive amount of the "non-Latino" vote. I think it's both of those.
As his first agenda item upon the inauguration of his term as Your Lieutenant Governor, Patrick will issue a fatwa declaring that all Texas women will wear burqas for the next two years. And that's going to be as liberal as it gets, ladies. I cannot wait to see if he carried the female vote in some equivalent number to Abbott (52-47 by the exit polls). That's a statement that will be repeated often, you can be certain. Update: CNN's exit polling says it was a nine-point margin.
-- Paxton 59, Houston 38, Balagia 2.53, Osborne .63%. Paxton's pending legal issues dissuaded no Republicans from voting for him. The GOP vote is as monolithic as can be imagined.
-- Hegar 58, Collier 37.67, Sanders 2.67, Shafto .97%. The first statewide contest that showed some slight erosion away from the two major party candidates. Libertarian Ben Sanders had the second-highest showing for the Libs in both vote total and percentage; he got twice as many votes as Kathie Glass, the now-two-time Libertarian gubernatorial loser. Deb Shafto increased her numbers about 15K and half of a percent from the baseline of candidates preceding her on the ballot, largely I think on the basis of her being the Green gubernatorial candidate in 2010.
-- Bush 60.7, Cook 35.3, Knight 2.71, Alessi 1.28%. George Pee got more votes than Greg Abbott, folks. And the Green candidate, Valerie Alessi, slightly over-performed ticketmates above her, but not those below, as we will see again in a moment.
-- Miller 58.6, Hogan 36.8, Palmquist 2.87, Kendrick 1.68%. It's disappointing that my man Kenneth did not see the surge of support I envisioned. This is the cause and effect of straight ticket voting demonstrated in all its appalling ignorance. Jim Hogan should not have received a single vote, period. It's difficult to encourage Democrats to vote when they make choices this poor when they do.
-- Sitton 58, Brown 36.5, Miller, 3.15, Salinas 2%. The Green, Martina Salinas, benefited from her Latino surname as much as a vigorous campaign, the highest-profile one of all Greens. She got nearly 93,000 votes, the largest amount of any G in a contested (with a Democrat) race. Maybe there are a few Texans who like the idea of a committed environmentalist sitting on the board of commissioners that regulate the oil and gas industry in Texas. Steve Brown, the only African American on the statewide ballot for Democrats, fell short of Jim Hogan's tally despite running an all-out campaign. And Mark Miller scored almost the highest of any statewide Libertarian in a contested race.
These lower-ballot statewide tilts seem to offer the greatest opportunity for the minor parties to make an impact. We'll watch and see if they take this lesson to heart for the future.
Back today with a post about statewide judicial races and turnout.
