Primary Turnout: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington held primary elections today. Preliminary results show turnout in all four states exceeded the turnout in Texas, dropping the state to 30th out of the 36 states that have held primaries so far this year. Three states with lower turnout did not have a statewide race on the ballot.
HD6: Former Sen. and Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant) endorsed challenger Neal Katz, who is running as an independent, over Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler).
SEN: Over the weekend, we missed a poll (PDF) showing U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R) leading U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso), 46%-42%. The poll of 797 “Texas voters” was conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of End Citizens United, which has endorsed O’Rourke. No crosstabs were released. Past polls conducted for End Citizens United have shown Cruz leading, 49%-43% (June) and 45%-37% (January). Of more interest than the horse race itself is the finding that O’Rourke has improved his name identification from 39% in January to 57% now.
Harris Co.: Early voting begins tomorrow (Wednesday) for the August 25 special election on the proposed $2.5B county flood bond, which would fund roughly 200 projects across the county. Polling suggests the bond will pass.
Lubbock Co.: Justice of the Peace Ana-Marie Carruth has been tapped as the Republican Party’s replacement nominee for County Court at Law No. 3. She replaces David Nelson, who was killed in a bicycle-vehicle collision in July after defeating the incumbent Phillip Hays in the March primary. Hays filed an application with the party’s executive committee to replace Nelson on the ballot but was not selected. Carruth was running unopposed for re-election, so the executive committee must now name a replacement nominee for that position.
Filing Period: Roughly two weeks remain for candidates to file for municipal, school board and other local offices on the November 6 ballot. The filing deadline is August 20.
Missouri City: Mayor Allen Owen filed for re-election.
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