HD13: Rep. Ben Leman (R-Iola) took the oath of office today and will serve the remainder of former Rep. Leighton Schubert’s (R-Caldwell) term.
Rep. Ben Leman
Leman defeated Jill Wolfskill, 57%-43%, in the Republican runoff. Wolfskill withdrew from the special runoff election, leaving Leman as the sole candidate. Leman faces Carmine engineer Cecil Webster in the general election.
HD114 open: The Dallas Fire Fighters Assoc. endorsed Democrat John Turner over Republican Lisa Luby Ryan, who defeated Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) in the primary.
CD9: Kesha Rogers, a two-time Democratic nominee for CD22, said she has filed her petition and signatures to run as an independent in the general election. An independent candidate for Congress must submit at least 500 signatures from voters who did not participate in a party’s nominating process for the particular office (In other words, Republican primary voters could sign her petition, because no Republican candidate filed for the seat.). Rogers, a Lyndon LaRouche enthusiast, is challenging U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-Houston) and Libertarian Phil Kurtz. Houston Health Department CFO Benjamin Hernandez is also seeking to run as an independent.
CD27 open: Bech Bruun endorsed Republican nominee Michael Cloud, who defeated Bruun in the runoff election.
Kaufman Co.: Election officials counted more than 600 mail-in ballots that had been seized to enable the Office of Attorney General and Texas Rangers to review allegations of potential voter fraud. The ballots, mostly from Republican voters, did not reverse any of the runoff races’ outcomes.
Motor Voter: The 5th U.S. Court of Appeals has temporarily stayed a ruling that would have given the state 45 days to implement an online system permitting Texas to register to vote when they obtain or renew their driver’s licenses. The stay will remain in effect through the appeals process, which is expected to take several months, likely pushing the issue past the general election.
Ethics Commission: Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appointed former federal bankruptcy judge Richard Schmidt of Corpus Christi to the Texas Ethics Commission. Schmidt’s term expires November 19, 2021.
©2018 Texas Election Source LLC
