HD26 open: No candidates filed during the extended filing period. Three Republicans and four Democrats filed before the regular deadline, which was extended one week because of Rep. Rick Miller’s (R-Sugar Land) late withdrawal.
HD60 open: Cisco finance director Jon Francis announced he would seek the seat being vacated by Rep. Mike Lang (R-Granbury) as a Republican. Lang opted to run for county office on the day of the original filing deadline, resulting in that deadline being extended until today (Monday). In a press release, Francis said he would only accept contributions from individuals. He is the finance director for Wilks Development, a commercial real estate and investment company, and son-in-law of Farris Wilks, who has contributed nearly $4.8M to conservative candidates and PACs since 2016. Mineral Wells Mayor Christopher Perricone, Graford rancher Glenn Rogers and Granbury attorney Kellye SoRelle are already in the race.
HD96 open: No candidates filed during the extended filing period. Mansfield Mayor David Cook is the lone Republican in the race. He and Democrat Joe Drago filed before the regular deadline, which was extended one week because of Rep. Bill Zedler’s (R-Arlington) late withdrawal.
HD138 open: The Josh Flynn campaign released a list of endorsements including Reps. Dennis Paul (R-Webster) and Bill Zedler (R-Arlington), Harris Co. Comm. Jack Cagle (R), former Harris Co. Clerk Stan Stanart and Houston council member Mike Knox.
House Speaker: The House General Investigating Committee will meet Friday to discuss and potentially take action on House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s (R-Angleton) and Rep. Dustin Burrows’s (R-Lubbock) actions in connection with a June meeting with Michael Quinn Sullivan.
SEN: The national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee endorsed M.J. Hegar in the crowded Democratic field to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R).
Houston: In the Dist. H runoff, incumbent Karla Cisneros defeated challenger Isabel Longoria by 12 votes out of 10,554 cast, 50.06% to 49.94%. The Harris Co. Clerk’s office said today (Monday) that 69 provisional ballots were cast in the race, which is a sufficient number to change the outcome. We expect the losing candidate to request a recount.
Citywide turnout in the Harris Co. portion of Houston was 18.7%, down from 21.5% for the November 2015 runoff between Sylvester Turner and Bill King. Turnout for the single-member districts with runoffs ranged from 11.5% in Dist. F (Tiffany Thomas over Van Huynh) to 24.8% in Dist. C (Abbie Kamin over Shelley Kennedy). In November, citywide turnout was 22.6% in the Harris Co. portion of Houston and single-member district turnout ranged from 14.1% in Dist. F to 30% (Dist. C).
Midland ISD: A manual ballot count that began Thursday has been suspended following the discovery of a sealed, locked box that contained 836 ballots from the November general election that were not provided to the initial recount committee. The manual count was intended to solve an 820-ballot discrepancy between initial vote counts, which showed the defeat of a $569 million bond package, and the final recount, which showed its passage.
“Today’s events show that the discrepancy was attributed to a break in the ballot chain of custody procedures by the Midland County elections office and not a machine or recount committee error,” said Christine Foreman, co-chair of We Choose Our Future PAC, who issued a joint statement with Better Bond for Midland PAC. Both PACs will be petitioning a contest of the election. We Choose Our Future PAC supported the bond election, and Better Bond for Midland PAC opposed it.
The bond package appeared to pass to 12 votes on Election night only to fail by 25 votes a couple of days later when election officials properly accounted for ballot-by-mail votes. Following a 20-hour recount, it again passed by 11 votes, but the 22,811 votes counted was 820 fewer than the canvassed results.
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