Election Results

Congratulations to Christian Menefee. He will be my congressman for the next 11 months.

I admit I was surprised by his margin of victory, getting over 68% of the vote this past Saturday. Wow!

My voting precinct in the Heights voted 73% for Christian.

I had breakfast on Saturday morning with a reporter from a national news outlet who was in H-Town to cover the CD 18 special election runoff. She told me that most local observers she had interviewed said the race would be close. It wasn’t.

Folks know that Commentary watches KPRC Channel 2 News for local news. In the runoff, Christian dominated the Channel 2 airwaves, and his ads were way better. A touch of animation, putting on a pair of boxing gloves and lifting weights worked. His mail was better too. The foldout piece with a who’s who of Democratic heavyweights’ endorsements was effective.

I am done voting in CD 18. I pulled up my Amanda Edwards yard sign yesterday.

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I was keeping an eye on the Texas Senate District 9 special election runoff up in Fort Worth. State Sen. Carol Alvarado is Chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus, and the Senate Democratic Caucus obviously had an active interest. See the featured photo with Sen. Alvarado and State Sen.-Elect Taylor Rehmet, the newest caucus member.

Rehmet surprised most folks when he got over 47% of the vote to lead in round one back in November.

Donald Trump carried SD 9 in 2024 by 17 points. Democrat Rehmet carried SD 9 by 14 points. Wow!

Here is from the Trib:

Instrumental to Rehmet’s victory was the backing he received from Hispanics, who account for slightly more than one in five eligible voters in the district. One analyst found that Rehmet outperformed Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, by more than 50 points in some of the largely Hispanic areas of Fort Worth. The remarkable shifts occurred as those voters witnessed immigration agents in recent weeks kill two Americans while trying to carry out the president’s promised mass deportations. And those same voters, some observers noted, believed Trump would help their financial standing more than what he has delivered in his first year in office.

Someone posted on twitter yesterday that a voter analysis of the SD 9 runoff voters showed 51% were Republican, 35% Democrat, and the rest unaffiliated.

Here is what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said about the results:

“Low turnout special elections are always unpredictable. The results from SD 9 are a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas. Our voters cannot take anything for granted.”

Patrick has this arse backwards. It looks like Patrick and MAGA are in fact taking their voters for granted. The voter analysis pretty much points to Republicans voting for Rehmet on Saturday.

Let’s also not forget that Rehmet’s MAGA opponent was Patrick’s handpicked candidate.

I really can’t speak as to why Republicans would switch and vote for a Democrat. MAGA rights now is a heavy handed, bullying, clown show. ICE thugs terrorizing Latino communities. Patrick is trying to destroy the state’s hemp industry.  MAGA Gov. Greg Abbott is neglecting our public schools while advancing school vouchers. And Trump is enriching himself, his wife, family, and cronies and doing absolutely nothing to address the affordability thing.

Congratulations to State Sen.-Elect Taylor Rehmet and his team.

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Astros pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 9 days.