Early voting for the May 22 runoff election continues through tomorrow (Friday). In general, Democratic turnout remains ahead of Republican turnout, which is unsurprising given the lack of a statewide Republican race. Turnout statewide is likely just south of 3% for both parties combined, through four days of early voting. We take a look at some numbers for CD27 below.
GOV: The Andrew White campaign’s ad, “Son of Texas,” is expected to air in the Austin market through Tuesday. The ad, similar to one from earlier in the election cycle, focuses on White’s efforts to help victims of Hurricane Harvey.
CD2 open: In a federal campaign finance filing, the Conservative Results Matter super PAC disclosed $505K in contributions, $450K of which came from The Lanier Law Firm of Houston. It has spent at least $616K for independent expenditures opposing Dan Crenshaw, the runoff opponent of Rep. Kevin Roberts (R-Houston). Roberts is the law firm’s executive director and chief operating officer, and firm founder Mark Lanier is Roberts’s brother-in-law.
The Roberts campaign released a video, “False Attacks,” that includes unedited video footage of Roberts’s use of “real world experience” as a key difference between the candidates. Crenshaw’s campaign used portions of that answer in a recent ad.
Meanwhile, former Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) tweeted for the first time since December 2016 to endorse Crenshaw and criticize Roberts for a mail piece attacking Crenshaw.
Finally, the Pirate PAC, whose Facebook page went live four days ago, repurposed the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War as a commentary on this race, with Crenshaw’s head superimposed on the bodies of Captain America and Thor, Robert’s head on the film’s villain, Thanos, and President Trump’s head on Tony Stark/Ironman. We kid you not.
CD5 open: Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell) filed suit to prevent mail-in ballots from being opened, alleging voter fraud in the May 5 election. Once opened, ballots are separated from the envelopes and become anonymous, making it impossible to exclude any ballots that might have been cast illegally. According to a post on Gooden’s Facebook page, District Judge Casey Blair signed a temporary restraining order, which would prevent the envelopes containing the ballots from being opened before a hearing scheduled for two days after the election. Gooden’s suit seeks to reject “dozens” of ballots that may have been used to cast votes illegally.
CD21 open: National Horizon, a Virginia-based super PAC, has spent $116K in the last two days in support of Chip Roy in the Republican runoff. It is the group’s first apparent set of expenditures in the race. The PAC is supported by Club for Growth Action, which gave National Horizon PAC a total of $230K during 2017. Club for Growth Action has spent at least $457K in support of Roy so far this election cycle.
CD27 open: In Nueces Co., 2,125 people have voted early in the Republican runoff for CD27, which is 25% fewer than the number who voted in the 2012 runoff through the first three days. Meanwhile, in Victoria Co., 1,748 people have voted early in the Republican runoff for CD27. These are the two most populous counties in CD27, representing 28% and 19%, respectively, of the votes cast in the primary. Bech Bruun carried Nueces Co. head-to-head over Michael Cloud, 77%-23%, and Cloud carried his home county head-to-head over Bruun, 76%-24%.
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