Leman Announces Retirement and Other Labor Day Weekend News
Rep. Ben Leman (R-Iola) announced he would not seek re-election. The former Grimes County Judge won a 2018 special election for the seat and the next two general elections. “It is clear the current season of my public service is winding down for the near future,”...Outlook for the Texas House of Representatives
Yesterday (Saturday), we posed two fundamental questions that will be answered Tuesday, or shortly thereafter. We gave our best guess on the first question, whether Joe Biden will become the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Texas since 1976 (No, but...Record-shattering Contributions Pour into Key House Races
The battle for the Texas House got expensive. Candidates in competitive seats collectively raised $39.3M during the past month, much of through in-kind contributions from a handful of sources. Republicans, bolstered by huge spending by Texans for Lawsuit Reform...Our Latest Projections: a Democratic House Majority and Presidential Toss Up
Our latest model run moves the presidential race in Texas to Toss Up and projects a narrow Democratic majority in the Texas House when the Legislature convenes in January. Another four Republican-held House seats are within 2 percentage points of potentially adding to...Early Voting Begins for High Stakes Election
Early voting has begun across Texas for the November 3 general election and continues through October 30. By most accounts, turnout is off to a torrid start. The Harris Co. Clerk’s office tweeted that 128K people voted in person today, plus 41K absentee ballots...$27M Flows into State and Legislative Campaigns as Early Voting Looms
Statewide and legislative candidates facing general election opposition reported raising nearly $27M since July 1. Democrats accounted for $12.4M of that figure, and Republican candidates raised $14.6M. Sixteen challengers out-raised their incumbent opponents for the...Straight-party Ruling Stayed and Other News for SD30 Eve
As expected, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay to prevent a lower court ruling from restoring the single-punch, straight-party voting option to the general election ballot. The state will seek an emergency stay – an administrative...Analysis of Key Dallas County House Races
Dallas Co. was the epicenter of Democrats’ 2018 surge. They flipped five House seats, one Senate seat and one congressional seat. They swept every countywide office. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) doubled up U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, beating him by 33 points....27 Seats Shift in New Race Ratings Following Latest Campaign Finance Reports
Texas Election Source has updated 27 race ratings based on the latest polling, July campaign finance reports and primary runoff results. Twenty of those races moved one column toward the Democrats’ advantage. Our complete ratings are located here. Thirteen...Abbott, Patrick Dominate Fundraising Despite Not Being on the Ballot
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) reported more cash on hand ($38.2M) than all of the Republican legislative incumbents and candidates on the 2020 general election ballot combined ($32.1M) and all of the Republican congressional incumbents and candidates on the 2020 general...Primary Voters Deliver Sitton Shocker and Runoffs Aplenty
Slow reporting of numbers – early voting and Election Day – muddled some views that are normally clear much earlier in the evening, but we now have a fairly complete picture of the winners, losers and runoff participants. Vote percentages below are unofficial and as...