HD145 special: Christina Morales defeated former Houston council member Melissa Noriega, 61%-39%. Turnout was 4.1%.

HD125 special: Former San Antonio council member Ray Lopez out-raised Republican Fred Rangel, $72K to $13K, and outspent him, $92K to $19K, between February 3 and March 2, according to the candidates’ runoff reports. For the abbreviated election cycle, Lopez has out-raised Rangel, $165K to $26K, and outspent him, $141K to $37K. With a week to Election Day, Lopez maintains a $15K to $6K edge in cash on hand.

Lopez’s largest contributors for the period were the Texas Trial Lawyers Assoc. ($20K), San Antonio attorney Mikal Watts ($5K), San Antonio resident Gloria Martinez ($3K), USAA Employee PAC ($3K), Brentwood Public Affairs ($2.5K), the Chris Turner campaign ($2.5K), Law Offices of Fidel Rodriguez Jr. ($2.5K) and the San Antonio Apartment Assoc. PAC ($2.5K).

Rangel’s largest contributors for the period were San Antonio body shop owner San Antonio car dealer Max Sauceda ($2.5K), Eder Acosta ($1K), Hispanic Republicans of Texas ($1K), San Antonio retiree E.C. Reeves ($1K) and Dallas property company owner Orlando Salazar ($1K).

UT/TT Poll: A new poll from the Univ. of Texas/Texas Tribune indicate 45% of Texas adults would “definitely [vote for] someone else” versus 39% who would vote “definitely” for President Trump, whose overall favorability rating is 49/45 (+4). That’s better than either potential Democratic rival from Texas, Beto O’Rourke (43/45) or Julián Castro (26/32). It’s also better than U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (36/35) and on par with U.S. Ted Cruz (46/41). We’ll have more insight into the poll when the full results and crosstabs are released later this week.

HD116: San Antonio security guard Evan Bohl established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio). Social media activity suggests he would run as a Democrat, or possibly as a Green, assuming we have identified him correctly.

CD18: Houston educator Stevens Orozco established an ActBlue page, a Facebook page and a web site for a potential primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston).

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