Posts Tagged ‘2014 Senate Race’
Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
According to the latest results.
Both Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton were hovering around 64-65% of the vote, which is pretty decisive.
Ryan Sitton is currently winning with 58% to Wayne Christian’s 42% for Railroad Commissioner. That’s a mild surprise to me, but down ballot races are harder to predict, and I did notice a late direct mail push from Sitton.
Sid Miller is currently leading Tommy Merritt 54-46% for Agriculture Commissioner, but they haven’t called the race yet.
On the Democrat’s side, David Alameel beat Larouchite Keisha Rogers fairly handily, 72% to 28%, for the chance to be slaughtered by John Cornyn in the Senate race. And Kinky Friedman appears to have lost to non-campaigning candidate Jim Hogan 55%-45% for Agriculture Commissioner. As to why, maybe Texas Democrats hate one or more of: Marijuana, Jews, country music singers, mystery writers, guys who smoke cigars, or guys named Kinky. Or they still hate him for running as an independent in 2006. Or they like guys with nice Anglo names. Take your pick.
More tomorrow (maybe).
Tags:2014 Attorney General's Race, 2014 Election, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, 2014 Senate Race, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, Kinky Friedman, Ryan Sitton, Sid Miller, Texas, Wayne Christian
Posted in Democrats, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 26th, 2014
Tomorrow is the Texas primary runoff, so now would be a good time to find your voting card and confirm your polling place.
A final roundup of runoff tidbits:
The Dallas Morning News says that Dan Patrick is poised to win due to his staunch opposition to illegal immigration. Oversimplified, but not entirely wrong. They also say Patrick has done a good job connecting with Ted Cruz supporters.
The end for Dewhurst draws nigh.
Dan Branch would have raised more money for the Attorney General race than Ken Paxton…were it not for the $1 million loan from Midland oilman Tim Dunn via Empower Texans PAC. Now you see why so many liberal reporters call Michael Quinn Sullivan the most powerful figure in Texas politics.
Talk show host Dana Loesch endorses Paxton. Less a move-the-needle endorsement than a reminder that conservatives are united on Paxton’s side.
Hey, that union Branch lobbied for totally wasn’t a member of the AFL-CIO…at least when he lobbied for it.
Governor Rick Perry took the unusual step of endorsing Sid Miller for Agriculture Commissioner over Tommy Merritt.
Some controversy over Miller’s campaign loan repayments.
On the Democrat side of the Ag Commissioner runoff, Kinky Friedman is running against an invisible opponent. “In the May 27 runoff the choice for the party’s faithful is either Friedman or Jim Hogan, a former dairy farmer who hasn’t campaigned for the office or even has a campaign website…Hogan could not be reached for comment because a phone number listed under his name was out of service and the Democratic Party of Texas did not respond to a request for other contact information.” Also, win or lose, Kinky said this is his last race.
Hogan seems to be taking a very Zen approach to campaigning.
One website has tried to fill the Jim Hogan void.
Here’s a Texas Tribune piece on the runoff between rich guy David Alameel and Larouchite Kesha Rogers for the Democratic Senate nomination. Fun as it would be to see Rogers upset Alameel, I don’t see it in the cards.
Finally, just in case you were unclear, Texas Monthly‘s Paul Burka is very upset that Republican primary voters continue to prefer actual Republicans over Republicans who act like Democrats once in office.
Here is who I will be voting for tomorrow (all of whom I expect to win):
Dan Patrick for Lt. Governor
Ken Paxton for Attorney General
Sid Miller for Agriculture Commissioner
Wayne Christian for Railroad Commissioner
Tags:2014 Attorney General's Race, 2014 Election, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, 2014 Senate Race, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Alameel, David Dewhurst, Elections, Jim Hogan, Ken Paxton, Kesha Rogers, Kinky Friedman, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Paul Burka, Rick Perry, runoff, Texas
Posted in Border Control, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, March 3rd, 2014
Given Senator John Cornyn’s deviations from conservative orthodoxy, many Tea Party supporters were relieved when Rep. Steve Stockman finally stepped up to primary him at the last minute. Stockman was a solid conservative, and people hoped he could at least give Cornyn a run for his money.
That hope proved short-lived.
Stockman has run a very poor campaign. He has missed numerous campaign events. I would say his fundraising has been poor, except the most recent FEC report I have been able to find doesn’t show him having raised any funds at all. (This is not the first time Stockman has had problems with filling out FEC forms.) His missing-in-action campaign is a sharp contrast with Ted Cruz’s smart, disciplined underdog campaign in 2012.
Other revelations about his past haven’t helped either. Records show that Stockman hasn’t voted in a primary in 10 years.
Given the dysfunctional nature of the Stockman campaign, it’s not a surprise that Tea Party supporters have largely given up on him as well.
I thought that Stockman got into the race too late to have real chance to beat Cornyn, but I didn’t expect him to do such a miserable job.
Tags:2014 Election, 2014 Senate Race, Elections, John Cornyn, Steve Stockman, Texas
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 2nd, 2014
A few tidbits on this race:
Steve Stockman is now accepting Bitcoins for his run against John Cornyn. This is pretty much a gimmick, as the tiny, Slashdot-centric audience who follow Bitcoin are singularly unlikely to involve themselves in Republican Party primaries. Another tiny problem: they’re not approved as a donation method by the FEC.
John Cornyn gets endorsed by the NRA. An incumbent Republican Senator with an A rating from the NRA getting their endorsement is hardly a surprise, but it’s a good pickup for him, especially since Stockman recently said that the tears of liberals make the best gun lubricant, and counts both the NRA and Gun Owners of America among previous endorsements.
Cornyn’s Texans for a Conservative Majority SuperPAC has already spent $70,000 slamming Stockman.
Stockman also compared Cornyn to PajamaBoy (Warning: Wiegel/Slate). That’s not so much a stretch as a rubber-band that’s already broken and been thrown away…
The only poll I’ve seen has Cornyn up 44 points, though this early that’s largely a name-recognition issue.
Cornyn’s name will appear last on Brewster county’s ballots.
Tags:2014 Election, 2014 Senate Race, Elections, Guns, John Cornyn, PajamaBoy, Republicans, Steve Stockman, Texas
Posted in Elections, Guns, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Monday, December 9th, 2013
“Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) is challenging Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the No. 2-ranking GOP senator, in next year’s Republican primary.”
I’m about to go to sleep, you insightful analysis will have to wait until tomorrow. Cornyn is certainly vulnerable, and Stockman is a serious challenger, but he may have waited to long to overcome Cornyn’s fundraising advantage.
This should also put a chill through every sitting Republican thinking of straying into RINO-Land on illegal alien amnesty, ObamaCare, or shrinking the budget deficit. Stray too far, and the grass roots will coming gunning for you.
Tags:2014 Senate Race, Elections, John Cornyn, Republicans, Steve Stockman, Texas
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
National Review is reporting that evangelical historian David Barton is considering a primary challenge to John Cornyn?
Can he take out Cornyn?
I don’t see it:
Barton is well known in evangelical circles, but not outside of them. Despite the endorsements of various Tea Party groups, I don’t see him playing well among fiscal conservative, business conservatives, or libertarian-leaning Republicans, and he can’t win the nomination without significant support from those groups.
Despite the media’s love of a good Republican primary fight, Barton has the profile of someone they would enjoy attacking a whole lot more. Imagine them dragging every “fundamentalist Dominionist” panic attack piece out of the closet.
Most historians, including many conservatives, have been extremely critical of Barton’s history. Greg Foster at First Things (hardly a hotbed of liberal thought), writes of a Barton piece on Locke that it “contains a number of incidental factual errors that don’t even advance his thesis, indicating that his inability to write reliable history stretches beyond ideological cheerleading and into outright incompetence.”
Barton strikes me as a figure that would be divisive among Republicans (much less among regular voters) for all the wrong reasons. He also strikes me as the only name floated as a possible Republican challenger to Cornyn who could actually lose to a Democrat in 2014.
Update: A day late and a dollar short. Barton announced yesterday he’s not going to run. D’oh!
Tags:2014 Senate Race, David Barton, Elections, John Cornyn, Republicans, Tea Party, Texas
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
Time for another (no doubt incomplete) roundup of statewide race news:
Holly Hansen interviews Greg Abbott.
Wendy Davis expresses enthusiasm for gun control, because that will go over so well in Texas. Next up: Wendy David calls for banning BBQ, Tex-Mex, football and Christmas.
Davis is expected to announce for Governor tomorrow.
Politico previews the Abbott-Davis fight as “bruising.” Well, yeah. It’s going to bruise Democratic egos and wallets to accomplish very little. Also contains this gem: “Republicans control more than 60 percent of statewide offices.” Well, yes, 100% is indeed more than 60%…
Left-leaning Texas Monthly just goes ahead and says Abbott will be the next governor. And here’s an excerpt of their cover profile of Abbott.
Unless Debra Medina runs as an Independent. Is she trying to elect Wendy Davis? Also, “I couldn’t raise money for a Comptroller race, so I’m going to run for governor” doesn’t make a lot of sense.
A roundup of Abbott vs. Davis fundraising between June 17 and August 5.
There was a Lt. Governor candidates forum in Houston.
There’s another one in Houston tomorrow, October 3, from 5-8 PM at Grace Community Church, 14505 Gulf Freeway.
PJ TV Interviews Todd Staples:
Also Jerry Patterson:
And David Dewhurst (but I’m not seeing one for Dan Patrick):
Jerry Patterson slams his rivals as soft:
Three Attorney General candidates (Ken Paxton, Barry Smitherman, and Dan Branch) also had a debate.
They also clashed over who had endorsed who.
Paxton unveils a list of 100 important Texas Tea Party supporters.
Smitherman picks up a Right-to-Life endorsement.
George P. Bush visits Seguin and San Angelo.
Jason Gibson, who briefly competed in the 2012 Senate race, is considering running against John Cornyn in 2014, presumably (as in 2012) as a Democrat.
Dem State Rep. Mike Villarreal prefers not to lose a statewide race for Comptroller.
Three Joe Straus allies (Bill Callegari, Rob Orr and Tryon Lewis) decide that now is a good time to retire.
Tags:2014 Attorney General's Race, 2014 Election, 2014 Governor's Race, 2014 Lt. Governor's Race, 2014 Senate Race, Barry Smitherman, Dan Branch, Dan Patrick, David Dewhurst, Debra Medina, Elections, George P. Bush, Greg Abbott, Jason Gibson, Joe Straus, Ken Paxton, Mike Villarreal, Texas, Todd Staples, Wendy Davis
Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 1st, 2013
There’s been a lot of criticism of John Cornyn in Tea Party circles over his failure to back Ted Cruz in procedural votes on the ObamaCare defunding fight. Given that, the muttering over someone primarying Cornyn have grown much louder.
Can anyone take Cornyn? It’s something of a tall order. He had some $6 million on hand as of the July reporting period, and any potential candidate will have a much latter start than Ted Cruz had when he beat David Dewhurst.
I queried a few people more tied-in than I, and three names of possible Cornyn challengers came up:
U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert was the most popular choice. Gohmert is a solid conservative, and Mark Levin has even put up a Draft Congressman Gohmert for U.S. Senate page on Facebook. The drawback is that Gohmert isn’t wealthy enough to self-fund, and his East Texas district puts him far away from the Houston and Metroplex fundraising pools that would be necessary to fund a statewide campaign.
U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul was a very close second. McCaul is widely considered to be “conservative enough” (and has an ACU rating of 91%) and with a personal fortune estimated to be around $300 million (his wife is the daughter of the founder of Clear Channel), he could clearly self-fund. McCaul was considering a Senate run in 2012, but ultimately opted against it.
Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willet has also been mentioned as a possible candidate, and he’s well-respected among conservatives. But stepping from the Texas Supreme Court to the U.S. Senate is a tall order (Cornyn did it via a stint as Texas Attorney General), and Willet has joked about not being rich, so self-funding is probably out for him as well.
(Unmentioned by anyone, but someone who’s family connections would bring instant media coverage: George P. Bush. But name recognition and family connections only take you so far. Bush would go from an overwhelming favorite for Land Commissioner to a distinct underdog in a Senate race, plus there’s no guarantee he would be any more conservative than Cornyn. And Tea Party opinion of the Bush Dynasty is not exactly one of, shall we say, unrestrained affection.)
It’s going to be a tall order to take out a sitting U.S. Senator, barring scandal or even more deviation from conservative principles. But of those mentioned, McCaul probably has the best shot to beat Cornyn.
Tags:2014 Election, 2014 Senate Race, Don Willet, Elections, George P. Bush, John Cornyn, Louis Gohmert, Mike McCaul, ObamaCare, Republicans, Tea Party, Texas
Posted in Elections, ObamaCare, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »