Wednesday, July 15, 2020

On to November! Texas Runoff Results Wrangle



Red Donkeys have a few wins to celebrate...


... and so do Blue Dogs.


Still, the West campaign was confident throughout the night that it would come out on top in its race against Hegar. Campaign spokesman Vince Leibowitz predicted that the race would come down to around just 10,000 votes.

Poor Vince.  Once upon a time -- as in 15 or so years ago -- he was co-founder of the Texas Progressive Alliance, a blogger of some esteem, with an uncle in the Lege and a day job as a hard-charging union delegate.  The world was his oyster.  After the factory cut him loose, however, he has gone from political consultant (Farouk Shami for Governor, anyone?) to real estate agent to, apparently, political consultant again.  His political instincts appear to be as sharp as ever.  I'm reminded that even as a newspaper journalist prior to the above, he had trouble spelling the word "loser" correctly.  He always used  two o's.

Supremely sad, ironic digression over.

There may yet be one more election before the fall.  Depending on mail ballots still outstanding, the jungle primary in SD14 could need a runoff.


TXElects posts a follow-up to their statehouse incumbent watch.

Four legislative incumbents out of six fell:

  • Lorraine Birabil (D-Dallas) lost to Jasmine Crockett, 50.5%-49.5%, after the challenger won Election Day voting, 61%-39%.
  • Anna Eastman (D-Houston) lost to Penny Shaw by 200 votes after losing Election Day voting, 54%-46%.
  • Dan Flynn (R-Van) lost to Bryan Slaton, 63%-37%, who was making his third bid for the seat; and
  • J.D. Sheffield (R-Gatesville) lost to Shelby Slawson, 62%-38%.

Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. (D-Brownsville) and Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) survived their runoff challenges.

Barring a special session, Birabil and Eastman joined former Reps. Dan Barrett (D-Fort Worth), John Lujan (R-San Antonio) and Laura Thompson (I-San Antonio) as special election winners who never cast a vote in the House.

Sheffield’s defeat extended to 11 the losing streak of incumbents who finished second in the primary election dating back to 1992. He faced the largest primary deficit of any of those incumbents.


The TexTrib's Alexa Ura has a good account of the tribulations experienced online and off during Election Day and Night.


And we can't let this round-up pass without saluting a few of the most ridiculous Republicans in the universe: our TXGOP.


Moving on to a diverse collation of BLM, police abuse, and other social justice headlines.


And two noteworthy Texans left us this past week.

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