SD4: Porter oil and gas project manager Jay Stittleburg established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) as a Democrat. Stittleburg ran unsuccessfully for Montgomery County Judge in 2018, losing to then-Rep. Mark Keough (R-The Woodlands), 75%-25%.

HD54: Lampasas author and progressive activist Clayton Tucker established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Salado) as a Democrat.

Rep. Brooks Landgraf

Rep. Brooks Landgraf

HD81: Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) announced he would seek a fourth term, forgoing a run for CD11, the congressional district being vacated by U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Midland).

HD107: Mesquite engineer and Army veteran Samuel Smith announced he would challenge Rep. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas) as a Republican. We previously reported Smith established a campaign committee for the race.

HD108: Rep. Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas) announced he would seek re-election to a fourth term, squelching any chatter that he might challenge U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas).

HD126: Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Rep. Sam Harless (R-Spring) for re-election.

SEN: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) reiterated his endorsement of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R) as Sen. Pat Fallon (R-Prosper) explores challenging him in the primary. Patrick endorsed Fallon’s primary challenge of former Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) in 2018.

PRES: Rep. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas) endorsed Joe Biden. Rep. Christina Morales (D-Houston), former Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) and Houston Controller Chris Brown endorsed Julián Castro.

Univision Poll: A new poll conducted for Univision News finds “registered Hispanics” in Texas favor the Democratic candidate, whoever it may be, over President Trump, 69%-19%, and Trump trails the generic Democratic candidate, 47%-42%, among “registered voters” in the state. Half of Hispanic/Latino registered voters said they thought Trump and the Republican Party were “being hostile” to them.

Trump’s net approval rating is 24/76 among Hispanic/Latino registered voters, while U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s rating is 32/20 with one out of four saying they “haven’t heard enough” about the 17-year incumbent to have an opinion. Cornyn trails a generic Democratic candidate, 58%-22%, among Hispanic/Latinos.

The poll of 641 Texas Hispanic/Latino voters was in the field August 31 through September 6 and has a stated margin of error of ±3.9%. The larger sample of Texas registered voters has a stated margin of error of ±3.1%.

Democratic Race Poll: A new Ragnar Research Partners poll shows Joe Biden leading the Democratic field for president with the support of 23% of “likely Democratic primary voters.” Elizabeth Warren (15%), former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (12%) and Bernie Sanders (12%) are within the margin of error of each other. Following them are Kamala Harris (7%), Pete Buttigieg (6%), Tulsi Gabbard (4%) and Julián Castro (2%). Nearly one in five respondents were undecided.

When it comes to the U.S. Senate race, half of respondents were undecided. Five polled candidates – M.J. Hegar (12%), Sen. Royce West (10%), Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez (10%), Amanda Edwards (10%) and Chris Bell (9%) – are all within the margin of error of each other. Low name identification is a problem for all candidates. For example, 71% of respondents have “never heard of” West.

The survey of 600 “likely Democratic primary voters” was in the field September 3-5 and has a stated margin of error of ±3.9%.

©2019 Texas Election Source LLC