SD10: The Dallas Morning News endorsed Democratic challenger Beverly Powell over Sen. Konni Burton (R-Colleyville).
SD19 special: Through three days of early voting (out of five), 4,550 people have voted in person in Bexar Co. That figure excludes ballots by mail. A total of 8,507 people voted early in person and by mail in the county for the July 31 special election.
Meanwhile, Pete Flores reported an additional $25K of in-kind contributions from Associated Republicans of Texas in a pre-election report filed yesterday (Tuesday).
SEN: The campaign of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R) released a new ad, “Stand,” attacking U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) for his stance on protests during the playing of the National Anthem.
CD3 open: The campaign of Sen. Van Taylor (R-Plano) released a new biographical ad highlighting his military service and legislative record.
CD7: The National Republican Campaign Committee release a new ad, “For Herself,” attacking Democratic challenger Lizzie Pannill Fletcher.
CD21 open: The campaign of Joseph Kopser (D) released a new ad highlighting his military service and technology entrepreneurship.
CD23: A New York Times/Siena College poll found U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio) leading Democratic challenger Gina Ortiz Jones, 51%-43%. President Trump’s favorability rating was 48/47. A majority of respondents view Hurd favorably (51/29) while Jones’s favorability is a mixed bag (30/26). Four out of every nine respondents did not have an opinion about Jones, suggesting she is behind on name identification. The poll of 495 respondents was in the field this week. It’s margin of error was not stated but must be around ±5%. Interestingly, the pollsters revealed it took 35,873 calls to get 495 people to talk to them.
Meanwhile, the National Republican Campaign Committee released a new ad, “Home,” attacking Democratic challenger Gina Ortiz Jones as “Washington’s candidate, not ours.”
Incidentally, the NRCC’s home is in Washington.
Primary Turnout: A greater percentage of registered voters cast ballots in today’s primary election in Rhode Island than during the March primary in Texas, dropping Texas to 42nd out of 49 states that have held primaries so far this year. Tomorrow (Thursday), New York holds its state and legislative primary election, giving it an opportunity to leapfrog Texas. Back in June, 3% of registered voters participated in the primary for federal races only.
Judicial Election Suit: Finding “partisanship rather than race better explains Hispanic defeat at the polls,” a U.S. District Court ruled against plaintiffs seeking to have Supreme Court of Texas justices and Court of Criminal Appeals judges elected from single-member districts.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos determined that plaintiffs met the three-pronged Gingles preconditions for claiming vote dilution:
- At least one majority-minority district is possible
- That minority is politically cohesive; and
- Anglos vote sufficiently as a bloc to “defeat the minority’s preferred candidates.”
However, plaintiffs failed to prove that any voter was denied the right to elect candidates of their choice on the basis of race.
Straight-party Voting: The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver lacked the authority to reinstate a single-punch, straight-party option for the general election.
©2018 Texas Election Source LLC
