Texas Primaries

[tokamak 6352]

1 hour ago, royiv said:

Molly stopped by my house a couple of weeks ago. I had met her before when she was running against Whitmire in the last election. She already had my vote, but really formed it up when we talked again. I see a ton of her yard signs in my neighborhood FWIW and not much from Litton.

Someone from Cook’s campaign knocked on our door. Interestingly, my hood seems like mostly Litton signs. 

Judging from the particular houses and the overlap with Whitmire signs, I’m assuming Litton is the choice for White Democrats Who Send Their Kids To Private School Because The Public School Is Just A Little Too “Urban”. 

[Doc Sam Beckett 5784]

Those aren't real propositions, right? Lol holy shit 

[Dnaguy 11777]

Just now, Doc Sam Beckett said:

Those aren't real propositions, right? Lol holy shit 

Not until the brownshirts show up.

 

[pyrohornIII 4809]

The props are basically a free straw poll the Republicans do with their voters that is paid for by the Secretary of State and the counties.  Also, it's a helluva propaganda tool to gin up their masses and give them free fodder they can scream about.

On the other hand, the Dems quit putting theirs on the ballots starting in 2022, I think.  They determined the long lines in the polling booths were partly because of people reading the platform.  So, in the interest of speeding up the process and reducing the frustration of those waiting in line, they were omitted after Covid.  

 

 

Edited February 21 by pyrohornIII

[Brisketexan 104635]

The props are basically a free straw poll the Republicans do with their voters that is paid for by the Secretary of State and the counties.  Also, it's a helluva propaganda tool to gin up their masses and give them free fodder they can scream about.
On the other hand, the Dems quit putting theirs on the ballots starting in 2022, I think.  They determined the long lines in the polling booths were partly because of people reading the platform.  So, in the interest of speeding up the process and reducing the frustration of those waiting in line, they were omitted after Covid.  
 
 

That, and the Dem platform is pretty clear these days: “holy fucking shit, what the fuck is up with those fascist shitbags in the GQP? We have to stop them.”

[pyrohornIII 4809]

Now THAT I would love to see at the bottom of every Dem ballot!

 

[YGIFS 19449]

Kinda bummed I didn’t see a gravy seal with an AR-15 outside Randall’s yesterday to protect election integrity.

 

[hookem2010 2600]

Anyone have knowledge about races on the ballot in Round Rock? I think most of the options are challengers who may not have much of a shot, but would love any info not available from a quick scan of ballotpedia

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19093]

16 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:

I have met and visited with the bulk of those.  Allred, Gonzalez and Hassan are the ones I haven't met.  I'll preface it to say that ANY of them would be better than Cruz.  While there's not a nutcase in the bunch, there's a definite horse race at the top.   I don't know why some of these good people wouldn't run for smaller races like House districts or Congressional Districts.  But I guess they feel the need to cut their teeth on something, might as well be the biggest bone.  T

Sadly, there is no mechanism in place to build a bench, which is what we need.  There are different camps, but not one central alliance that charts a course.  I won't deny there are power players, particularly in DC that push money into certain campaigns, but again there's not a lot of Texas influence going into those decisions.    We are seeing that in the Senate race.  

 

15 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Maddening.  The Texas Dem party needs to fucking put together an actual strategy, with actual cogent leadership exercising it.  They did so once, long ago.  They need to do so again.

 

15 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

One of my biggest pet peeves with Texas Democrats. Every time someone gets a little bit of exposure they run for an office about 2 slots higher up the ladder than they should. Hey, I know you had that tweet that went viral a couple months ago, but why do you think 75,000 "likes" qualifies you to run for the senate? How about a House district? Or better yet a county commissioners seat? 

 

15 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Yep.  The GQP is developing that bench.  Granted, it's a bench of batshit crazy suburban moms running for school board seats who shoplift from Target and fuck the poolboy while their husbands watch....but still, it's a bench.

 

12 hours ago, Js1 said:

I’m a little miffed the LGBT caucus in Houston endorsed SJL. Def going against that one

Seems to me that some of you assholes need to get involved in Texas politics and help develop the bench.  It is infuriating, but seems like that is what a lot of us should be doing.

[YGIFS 19449]

My copy anyway, Of League of Women voter guide had the RR and Williamson county races bios of most candidates.  I’m sure one day they’ll be shut down by a dictatorship but they still do a fantastic job with no acclaim.  You can get them right now at most grocers or local library.  

[Guest]

Voted yesterday around 4 p.m. 

I was number 26 at my polling station. Slow, to say the least.

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

1 hour ago, hookem2010 said:

Anyone have knowledge about races on the ballot in Round Rock? I think most of the options are challengers who may not have much of a shot, but would love any info not available from a quick scan of ballotpedia

I'm in Williamson County, but not Round Rock. My Democratic Party Sample Ballot is Ballot 55 (TX31, HD52) I haven't spent much time on the judicial races yet (kind of surprised there's more than one challenger for a few of them), but here's where I'm going on the Federal and State races..

President - Biden (Duh)

Senate - Roland Gutierrez, but Allred will probably win

TX-31 (R+15) - Stuart Whitlow. The other two candidates are unserious people

Railroad Commission - Bill Burch has the money and endorsements lined up behind him. Either candidate would be an improvement

State BOE District 10 - Dr Raquel Saenz Ortiz. DC Caldwell is an aggie weirdo libertarian that somehow snuck onto the D ballot

HD 52 (R+11) - Angel Carroll has the money and endorsements, Jennie Birkholz is a fine candidate, and either would be a huge improvement over Caroline Harris

 

[royiv 9168]

9 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Senate - Roland Gutierrez, but Allred will probably win

I also voted Gutierrez knowing that Allred will likely win. It was a bit of a protest vote for Allred pissing me off for going along with some of the GQP border stunts. I’ll obviously vote Allred in the general and if his relatively inconsequential bullshit is a play to rope in some of the Republicans that hate Cruz, then so be it.

Edited February 21 by royiv

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

22 minutes ago, royiv said:

I also voted Gutierrez knowing that Allred will likely win. It was a bit of a protest vote for Allred pissing me off for going along with some of the GQP border stunts. I’ll obviously vote Allred in the general and if his relatively inconsequential bullshit is a play to rope in some of the Republicans that hate Cruz, then so be it.

Exact same reason I voted Gutierrez. 

[Js1 85116]

2 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Exact same reason I voted Gutierrez. 

Same 

[Guest]

Gutierrez here as a thank you for taking on Uvalde and pushing it hard.

[hookem2010 2600]

2 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

State BOE District 10 - Dr Raquel Saenz Ortiz. DC Caldwell is an aggie weirdo libertarian that somehow snuck onto the D ballot

 

You don't say?

[tokamak 6352]

For my SD15 homies, Kuffner has done interviews with all 6 candidates. I'm gonna link the one with Cardenas here, because it was the last one in the series and has links to the others. https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=112964

I listened to them all over the past couple days. I think we've got a lot of good choices here and it seems certain this will go to a runoff. Johnson, Litton, and Cook have raised the most money, with Soora a step behind them, and Cardenas and Bonton way behind.

The fundamental question of these interviews boils down to "how do you plan to get anything done in Dan Patrick's Senate?". I liked Johnson's confrontational approach. Cook leaned in to her energy and experience getting out in the streets and organizing. Litton was thoughtful talking about the issues but came across to me as a little defeatist. He kept saying variations on "unfortunately none of this is gonna happen, but it's worth a shot".

I also got off in the weeds and looked at a couple campaign finance reports and it was more interesting than I thought. For instance, Litton's wife is a doctor and bigwig at MD Anderson. Almost all his donations were in the $100+ range, with a bunch of $500 and even $1000 individual donations. I'm guessing his base of support is well-heeled types in places like West U and Bellaire. On the other hand, Cook's donations were a ton of $20, $25, etc. That matches her image as a young, progressive, community organizer-type.

[TexPx 2319]

That dude looks like someone that runs an herbal viagra and testosterone supplement business.

Dude ran against Angela Paxton in the 2022 Senate primary and got 34.8 %

Right wing muckraker site “Current Revolt” claimed he was a Democratic infiltrator.

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19093]

4 hours ago, YGIFS said:

My copy anyway, Of League of Women voter guide had the RR and Williamson county races bios of most candidates.  I’m sure one day they’ll be shut down by a dictatorship but they still do a fantastic job with no acclaim.  You can get them right now at most grocers or local library.  

This.  It is amazing.  I use it every year.  Though admittedly, the Texas one is usually better than the one here in NY.

[TexPx 2319]

Did he get his credentials from the same place Rand Paul did

Well, according to his website his political hero is Ron Paul…

[Js1 85116]

4 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

 

 

 

 

Seems to me that some of you assholes need to get involved in Texas politics and help develop the bench.  It is infuriating, but seems like that is what a lot of us should be doing.

some of us are trying to get the fuck out of here! 

[Brisketexan 104635]

38 minutes ago, hookem2010 said:

You don't say?

Say what you will, but his synthesizer-heavy 1985 debut album was groundbreaking.

[YGIFS 19449]

I liked him better as Johnny Bravo years ago.  
 

I’m a dancer. 
I’m a romancer

You’re a Capricorn 

I’m a cancer.  

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

Dade Phelan's gerrymandered district includes three counties: Jasper (100% of it), Jefferson (27% of it) and Orange (100%). 

Couldn't find the day one vote totals for Jasper County. ~23,000 registered voters
Republican votes cast in person on the first day were 877 for Orange County. ~54,000 registered voters
Republican votes cast in person on the first day were 726 for Jefferson County. ~143,000 registered voters

Combined, 1.9% of Orange County voters voted on the first day. For comparison, 0.7% of Travis County voters did.

Looks like people that are politically engaged in Dade's district is very eager to get out and vote. I've got to think

 

[StassneyHorn 6540]

Reporting is not completely in from yesterday, but notes are fun. The numbers mean nothing today and nothing tomorrow, but could be reflective of enthusiasm yadda yadda yadda 

-Approx 22k out of Dems 90k voters have been by mail
-Approx 20k out of Reps 190k voters have been by mail

Lower Rio Grande Valley Participation
Hidalgo Co.- 2015 Republican
                      6789 Democratic

Cameron Co. - 1600 Republican
                          2724 Democratic

Starr Co.- 62 Republican
                 1049 Democratic

Willacy Co - 19 Republican
                     133 Democratic

....and the county that caused Republicans to spend 30 million in South Texas (dont fact check me) and made some poor guy from the NYTimes come out and write articles about

Zapata Co. - 35 Republican
                      586 Democratic

 

[Js1 85116]

Let’s go Amanda!

 

[Art Vandelay 1710]

23 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Say what you will, but his synthesizer-heavy 1985 debut album was groundbreaking.

Do you remember DC? He's a musician. Used to have a group, Autobahn. Look in my LP's. They released one album in the late '70s. Their music is sort of a techno pop.

[C-Man 27063]

Taking my 18-year-old daughter to go vote for the first time this afternoon. I'm going over the Dem ballot for Dallas. Anybody know who has a better shot against Morgan Meyer in November -- Yasmin Simon or Elizabeth Ginsberg? Seems like Ginsberg tried before and lost -- or maybe she ran for something else. Appears she's a Longhorn. Neighbor across the street has multiple Simon signs in his yard, which surprised me a bit. He's an executive at AT&T. His next-door neighbor is actually a R candidate for a State Board of Education seat. 

Also, anybody have feelings about Sam Eppler or Francine Ly, who are vying to challenge Beth Van Duyne (puke) in November? Eppler appears to have a lot more money. Dude is only 28, I think.

 

Edited February 22 by C-Man

[texasdago 7553]

1 hour ago, Art Vandelay said:

Do you remember DC? He's a musician. Used to have a group, Autobahn. Look in my LP's. They released one album in the late '70s. Their music is sort of a techno pop.

Groundbreaking, eh? Someone from 1974 would like a word...

[Guest]

I operate under the assumption this state is 55/45 R vs. D. 

I suppose you can't read too much into one day of early primary voting, but the first day results were 70/30 Republican. Damn.
 

 

[hookem2010 2600]

I voted for the first time in 2012, at the age of 24. First midterms I participated in were 2018. First off-year elections in 2023. And my first primary this year. I guess I can thank Trump for getting me more engaged!

[StassneyHorn 6540]

4 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

I operate under the assumption this state is 55/45 R vs. D. 

I suppose you can't read too much into one day of early primary voting, but the first day results were 70/30 Republican. Damn.
 

 

https://earlyvoting.texas-election.com/Elections/getElectionDetails.do

There's a March 5 Republican and March 5 Democratic primary on the dropdown you can select. On the next page you pick the most recent day.

[Brisketexan 104635]

Just now, StassneyHorn said:

https://earlyvoting.texas-election.com/Elections/getElectionDetails.do

There's a March 5 Republican and March 5 Democratic primary on the dropdown you can select. On the next page you pick the most recent day.

187k Republican, 80k Dem.  Sheesh.  This state.

[StassneyHorn 6540]

this is the column to look at for total, Cumulative In-Person And Mail Voters.

If you want to spy on friends and see which one they voted in click on the Voter Details Report on the furthest right column

Edited February 23 by StassneyHorn

[hookem2010 2600]

13 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

187k Republican, 80k Dem.  Sheesh.  This state.

At least they're voting for some sanity to replace the MAGA nutjobs, right? Right???

[dcbc 14414]

I've put off early voting so far.  Because of my geographic location, it almost always makes more sense for me to vote in the R primary and trying, against hope to find the more sane of the primary candidates.  In other words, going where the action is.  Then, in November, I vote D.  And that's probably still the wisest strategy if I want my primary vote to mean anything.  But damn, the thought of the poll worker's asking me "Republican or Democrat" and answering the former just doesn't fill me with pride in doing my civic duty at the moment.

[Tonesky 917]

On 2/20/2024 at 10:27 AM, FirstTimeCaller said:

Just glancing through the Republican sample ballot and saw these "propositions." Might vote in the Republican primary just to screw with a number of these.  

Proposition 9: The Republican Party of Texas should restrict voting in the Republican primary to only registered Republicans

I did this twice, both times to vote for Dewhurst, in effort to block Cruz and Patrick from their current jobs.  All I got for it was 8-10 years of republican mail and phone calls in election years.  Today, that would be unending text messages.  You may end up regretting your fun....

Prop 9 is pretty funny, as Texas has no party registration, and adoption of this proposition would result in elimination of the Republican primary.

[Tonesky 917]

On 2/21/2024 at 9:28 AM, royiv said:

Allred ... if his relatively inconsequential bullshit is a play to rope in some of the Republicans that hate Cruz.

I think it is this - sort of the anti Beto campaigning on "I'm coming for your guns."

[The Original Greaser Bob 2799]

On 2/21/2024 at 9:18 AM, Pescado_Rojo said:

TX-31 (R+15) - Stuart Whitlow. The other two candidates are unserious people

Went to law school with him.  Nice guy.

[pyrohornIII 4809]

On 2/21/2024 at 11:43 AM, hookem2010 said:

You don't say?

This fool is on both the Dem and Rep primary ballot for this seat.   He's done this before and they tried to pass some legislation to close that loophole, but the republicans were too busy writing suppression laws to pass something to fix something actually broken.  The kicker is, if he wins one or the other, then he can't be in the general at all.  Seems there is legislation for that.  Just not enough to help out those running the primaries.

Dr Ortiz is a good candidate though.  She's an educator first and she is solid.  But like most people in these races, they are getting into them as good people hoping to serve.  They really have no idea the pit of vipers they have jumped into.

 

On 2/21/2024 at 9:28 AM, royiv said:

I also voted Gutierrez knowing that Allred will likely win. It was a bit of a protest vote for Allred pissing me off for going along with some of the GQP border stunts. I’ll obviously vote Allred in the general and if his relatively inconsequential bullshit is a play to rope in some of the Republicans that hate Cruz, then so be it.

I think Gutierrez is going to surprise some folks, particularly Allred.  He's covered over 9,000 miles of Texas meeting people this campaign.  And unlike Beto, he comes off as sincere, there's actual discussions, not just photo ops.  

On 2/21/2024 at 9:18 AM, Pescado_Rojo said:

I'm in Williamson County, but not Round Rock. My Democratic Party Sample Ballot is Ballot 55 (TX31, HD52) I haven't spent much time on the judicial races yet (kind of surprised there's more than one challenger for a few of them), but here's where I'm going on the Federal and State races..

President - Biden (Duh)

Senate - Roland Gutierrez, but Allred will probably win

TX-31 (R+15) - Stuart Whitlow. The other two candidates are unserious people

Railroad Commission - Bill Burch has the money and endorsements lined up behind him. Either candidate would be an improvement

State BOE District 10 - Dr Raquel Saenz Ortiz. DC Caldwell is an aggie weirdo libertarian that somehow snuck onto the D ballot

HD 52 (R+11) - Angel Carroll has the money and endorsements, Jennie Birkholz is a fine candidate, and either would be a huge improvement over Caroline Harris

 

Burch is the real deal.  He's a third-generation driller and earlier served as an oilfield firefighter.  He knows his stuff and is great at explaining it from old oil patch guys down to laypeople like me.    He says he's the only Dem in the race, because his opponent is from somewhere on the east coast and has a history of voting/running republican.   He also is traveling the state like Gutierrez.  He does a lot of soc med stuff on IG, Threads, X.  

11 hours ago, Js1 said:

Let’s go Amanda!

 

  Thierry needs to go in a big way, Houston voters.  

 

[YGIFS 19449]

On 2/21/2024 at 11:43 AM, hookem2010 said:

You don't say?

Like, you heard he fucked an Ostrich right?  
 

Allegedlies!

[Voldemort86 2259]

I usually just vote on the Republican side in the primary to give me another chance at voting against Patrick / Abbott / Paxton / Cruz before going full democrat in the fall. 
 

already got my vote in.

[Guest]

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19151]

12 hours ago, Tonesky said:

I did this twice, both times to vote for Dewhurst, in effort to block Cruz and Patrick from their current jobs.  All I got for it was 8-10 years of republican mail and phone calls in election years.  Today, that would be unending text messages.  You may end up regretting your fun....

Prop 9 is pretty funny, as Texas has no party registration, and adoption of this proposition would result in elimination of the Republican primary.

I've never had to give them a phone number - or at least as best I can remember.  I can't remember back to when I registered to vote whether I had to provide a number or not.  If I did, it was a fake number.

Why can't everyone else figure this out?

[South Austin 52153]

I've voted in a Republican primary once or twice, and it was purely an anti-Cruz and/or anti-Trump motive.  I don't recall having to give a phone number.

But somehow I occasionally get texts from campaigns for Abbott, Paxton, Cruz, and some of those other dipshits.  I can't recall any means in which I would have given them my number.  You'd think a "Go fuck yourself"-type response would get me off their lists, but nope.   

I've also gotten texts from the Beto folks and other Democratic campaigns, but I'm fairly certain it's because I've given plenty to Democratic candidates, and with that I guess I unwittingly gave them my phone number

[pyrohornIII 4809]

They probably targeted you off your voting history and used your name and address to link you to another source that had name, address and phone.  

[dcbc 14414]

Your phone number (if you gave it) and your party affiliation (determined by which primary you voted in in the last election cycle) is available to the campaigns.  And if you didn't provide a phone number, they bought that info from somewhere else.  The data has been mined.  Burner phones may be the future.

 

Android messages' spam filter for texts and Google Assistant's phone call screening both are excellent.  I never see a political texts and can robo-screen calls from numbers I don't recognize, the latter of which is very satisfying.

Edited February 23 by dcbc

[Tonesky 917]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I've never had to give them a phone number - or at least as best I can remember.  I can't remember back to when I registered to vote whether I had to provide a number or not.  If I did, it was a fake number.

Why can't everyone else figure this out?

So, you only get calls and texts from telemarketers, etc. to whom you’ve given your number?  Your name and cell number are already known by businesses that exist to sell it to those who want it.