Special Runoff Elections: Tuesday is Election Night for voters in HD28, HD100 and HD148. We will have live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. CST at txelects.com/live.
COPE Endorsements: The Texas AFL-CIO COPE released its primary endorsements today (Sunday). Candidates needed two-thirds support in order to earn the group’s endorsement, and in a few cases, two candidates in a race were endorsed. The group also endorsed a handful of Republicans, including a couple in contested primaries. Highlights include:
- No endorsement for U.S. Senate because no candidate obtained the necessary support, which was seen as “a sign of group strength among the candidates.”
- Primary challenger Jessica Cisneros over U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) in CD28
- Primary challenger Amber Medina over Rep. Alex Dominguez (D-Brownsville) in HD37
- Primary challenger Jerry Davis over Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) in HD142
- Xochil Peña Rodriguez over Rep. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) in SD19
- Republican Mitch Thames and Democrat Patrick Henry in HD25 open; and
- Endorsing both Democrats vying to succeed the retiring Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) in HD92.
All of the group’s endorsements have been incorporated into our Crib Sheets.
AG: A Friday hearing in a Harris Co. court to determine whether the criminal security fraud trial of Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton should be moved back to Collin Co. was postponed. The case was moved to Harris Co. from Collin Co. nearly three years ago. Paxton was indicted on three felony counts of securities fraud and acting as an unregistered investment adviser by a Collin Co. grand jury in July 2015. A similar federal case has been dismissed twice.
SC7: The Dallas Morning News endorsed District Judge Staci Williams for the Democratic nomination to challenge Justice Jeff Boyd (R).
CCA3: The Dallas Morning News endorsed Elizabeth Frizell for the Democratic nomination to challenge Judge Bert Richardson (R).
HD65: The Dallas Morning News, noting either candidate would be a “strong advocate” in Austin, “narrowly” endorsed Nancy Cline over Kronda Thimesch for the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Michelle Beckley (D-Carrollton).
HD92 open: Texans for Fiscal Responsibility/Empower Texans endorsed Jeff Cason to succeed the retiring Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford).
HD115: Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Republican challenger Karyn Brownlee over Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Addison). Neither is opposed in their respective primary.
PRES: Reps. Chris Turner (D-Arlington) and John Turner (D-Dallas) endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.
CD3: The Dallas Morning News endorsed Lulu Seikaly for the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Rep. Van Taylor (R-Plano).
CD28: American Workers for Progress, a newly formed dark money group, has purchased $720K worth of TV advertising in support of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo), who faces a progressive primary challenge from Laredo attorney Jessica Cisneros. An ad running in several district markets asks viewers to call Cuellar’s office to thank him for supporting lower prescription drug prices, which exempts the ad from disclosure under Federal Elections Commission rules. The group’s web site is a single page with a single sentence of text.
El Paso: Claudia Lizette Rodriquez defeated Debbie Torres, 53%-47%, in the D6 runoff. Rodriguez led Torres by three votes in early voting before winning Election Day by 72 votes. Turnout was 2.6%. Four filed for the December 14 special election to fill the unexpired term of council member Claudia Ordaz Perez, who is running for open HD76.
©2020 Texas Election Source LLC
