I'll start with the municipal runoffs that concluded over the weekend. First, from Fort Worth and the mayor's race there:
Fort Worth mayoral runoff, Tarrant County early vote:
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) June 6, 2021
Mattie Parker 53
Deborah Peoples 47 pic.twitter.com/ewslQADN03
It didn't get any closer after they counted Election Day votes. Bud Kennedy wrote about the importance of not losing the office for Tarrant County Repubs.
The biggest win for the Texas Pachys came in the Valley again.
The city of McAllen has a new mayor.https://t.co/3GnqB10OAM
— CBS 4 News (@cbs4rgv) June 6, 2021
A GOP county chair just won a race for mayor of McAllen, Texas, a city that’s 85% Latino. Hillary won the county by 40 points.
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) June 6, 2021
If the Democratic Party doesn’t get serious about Latino outreach, we’re in big trouble.
Send congratulations to Gilberto Hinojosa once more.
The news was better in Alamo City council runoffs.
It's official: San Antonio City Council will have four new members after Saturday's runoff elections. https://t.co/Fq5Iwi1rzc
— San Antonio Report (@SAReport) June 6, 2021
District 2 challenger Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 5 candidate Teri Castillo won their runoff races Saturday, adding two young, progressive voices to the San Antonio City Council on Saturday ...
McKee-Rodriguez, a 26-year-old teacher, defeated the woman he used to work for, Councilwoman Jada Andrews-Sullivan, who was seeking a second term. He will be the first openly gay man to serve on City Council ...
District 2 City Council frontrunner Jalen Mckee-Rodriguez hugs his husband Nathan at his runoff election watch party. He still has 62% of the vote as Election Day returns trickle in. @TPRNews pic.twitter.com/sb0aO6ToQe
— Joey Palacios 😷 (@Joeycules) June 6, 2021
Castillo, a 29-year-old urban historian and substitute teacher, outpaced retiree Rudy Lopez in early vote results and held her lead through the rest of Saturday night. She and McKee-Rodriguez both ran on progressive platforms and were endorsed by the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio, and the San Antonio chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Castillo will find another colleague who prioritizes environmental issues in newcomer Mario Bravo, an Environmental Defense Fund project manager who defeated (three-term incumbent Roberto) Treviño.
Castillo was also endorsed by Bernie Sanders, both Castro brothers, and their mother Rosie. Together with incumbent John Courage's re-election, the San Antonio City Council is by far the most progressive in the state. Very impressive.
Another local win for Texas progressives: they’ve been talking about Junior Ezeonu, a 22-year old black WFP-backed candidates who ran for a council seat in Grand Prairie vs an incumbent. Ezeonu just won.
— Taniel (@Taniel) June 6, 2021
He breaks the mold of local politics here: https://t.co/0ETdS9VJph
Dallas
— Texas Election Source (@TXElects) June 6, 2021
18% of vote centers reporting
P2: Moreno 57%, Syed 43%
P4: Arnold 57%, Johnson 43%
P7: Bazaldua 62%, Felder 38%
P11: Schultz 54%, Wernick 46%
P13: Willis 53%, Burk 47%
P14: Ridley 61%, Blewett 39%
Moving on to 2022 statewides and Greg Abbott's announced challengers and potential ones. Let's begin in the GOP primary.
Sid Miller: "I will be announcing probably in the next few weeks that I am running for office" (doesn't specify which one)
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) May 31, 2021
"I'm convinced that our current governor cannot get reelected in the general election" https://t.co/RLZE1SF3WR
If Miller runs against Abbott -- some rumors swirl that he might throw his extremely large hat into the ring against Dan Patrick -- he would join Don Huffines in vying for the MAGAt vote. Trump, as you likely know, endorsed the governor last week.
Texas GOP Chair Allen West announced his resignation Friday morning and said he is considering running for another office, potentially one that is statewide. https://t.co/TSZZmFTTYG
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 6, 2021
West might run for Congress; speculation again suggests that he has been offered a favorable re-draw of TX-32 (Colin Allred is the incumbent). Texas D Congress members will lose seats in '22, and not just in the RGV because of regional dysfunction there, but because what may be happening with West will happen for others after the second special session in the fall.
In the upcoming round of redistricting, there is nothing that will prevent Rs from dismantling districts in the suburbs of places like Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas, where, in recent years, people of color have won or are increasingly competing for power. 6/
— Michael Li 李之樸 (@mcpli) June 6, 2021
And then there's Beto. ICYMI ...
Looks like @BetoORourke going on statewide tour to talk voting rights, with 22 stops scheduled so far #SB7 #txlege pic.twitter.com/uq0u0b7hOs
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) June 1, 2021
.@BetoORourke tells me he'll consider '22 options only after a Texas GOP elections bill is defeated or federal elections legislation is passed.
— John Engel (@EngelsAngle) June 3, 2021
“If we can get this done... I’ll think about what other role I can play in public service" https://t.co/cV7bFYVaPq @KXAN_News #txlege
SB7, or whatever it will be called in the first special, will pass. Beto won't run. Neither will Julian Castro. Next?
There's just too much to write about George Pee Bush and Ken Paxton -- and for that matter, Joe Jaworski -- so I'll also do a shorter post on what will very possibly be the marquee statewide race next year. That is to say, without some big name running for governor, which I candidly doubt will happen. Even AllRight x3 isn't that stupid.
So how about some more disgusting Congresscritter news?
Luttrell officially launched this morning:
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) June 3, 2021
- Release: https://t.co/OKvRitJ1vR
- Video: https://t.co/POOTxv2p2y
- also spoke w/ @MichaelBerrySho #TX08https://t.co/oeZ9lRx2Me
Congress is going to flip in 2022, both House and Senate, unless the Donks and Joe Biden can pull their shit together. Then again, they'll have all the excuses they need to shrug and say, 'well, we just can't get anything done because of those mean ol' Republicans'. In other words, nothing will fundamentally change from now.
Seizing the day, early-bird TX Rethugs are plucking worms and jumping into new races.
Story on all this from earlier today: https://t.co/nN6DotAGa8
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) June 4, 2021
Finally, Dallas Democrats filled their vacancy in the county chairwomanship, and ...
After @lillieschechter’s announcement that she’s stepping down as Harris County Dem Party chair, Evbagharu (@Jon_RosenthalTX’s chief of staff) says he’s running to succeed her: https://t.co/2Y6Y22mU6u
— Jasper Scherer (@jaspscherer) June 4, 2021
Evbagharu explained his candidacy in that Medium post. Frankly I'll be surprised if the powers that be -- Gerry Birnberg and Dave Matthiesen -- don't find another lackey to install over him, but we'll see.
Still working on eco- and social justice collations.