Posted on 01/28/2020 9:39:39 AM PST by yesthatjallen
A special election Tuesday for a seat in the Texas state House is being closely watched for early glimpses into just how competitive the delegate-rich state might be in the presidential election — and how critical suburban voters might trend in November.
Democrat Eliz Markowitz, an education specialist, faces Republican Gary Gates, a self-funded businessman, in Tuesday’s runoff to replace Rep. John Zerwas, a moderate Republican who is not running for re-election.
Markowitz, the only Democrat in the race, won 39.1 percent of the vote in the November election. Gates received 28.4 percent, while three other Republicans split the remainder of the vote.
The legislative stakes of the runoff in House District 28, a rapidly diversifying suburb of Houston, are relatively low. Whoever wins will most likely not even cast a single vote before they have to face re-election in November, as the Legislature does not meet this year. And even if Markowitz wins, Texas Republicans would still control the House by eight seats.
But Democrats are itching to demonstrate that Texas is a competitive state and will be up for grabs in 2020. Texas has 38 votes in the Electoral College, second to only California, with 55. Many say that demographic changes in the district, part of ethnically diverse Fort Bend County, are part of a larger shift in suburbs around the state — trends that could shift electoral results in Democrats' favor.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
So if the dems win this seat we need to find addresses of all the new move-ins and invite them to move out of our country state. We can help them all move.
There’s something to that. One has to be pretty committed to the cause these days to publicly out oneself as a Republican, at least if you live in a city.
Of course, another reason given—at least by a lot of the Republican judges who were ousted in the last two elections—is that they like being back in private practice and don’t want to take the pay cut. I was tempted to run for judge myself this year, but I didn’t want to take the pay cut either.
I mostly know about the civil district courts, because that is where I practice. Of the 15-20 or so former Republican civil district court judges out there who aren’t retired, only two are running to get back on the bench in 2020, even though there are five Democrat incumbents with no Republican challenger.
Texas is not long for the Red state it has been for a while. I too—as a Texan—pray for the kids. I now live in Florida and if either Florida or Texas flips then it’s over for Republicans and conservatives.
Also, there is no longer “straight party voting”, which is how Harris County Judge Ed Emmett was voted out for Lina Hildalgo.
I hope the end of straight ticket voting helps, but I’m a bit skeptical. But who knows, maybe enough Democrat voters will vote for President and US Senate and leave the rest blank.
Texas eliminated straight-ticket voting in 2017. It takes effect this year.
Democrats were naturally opposed.
And the Dems got slaughtered...Gates wins 58% to 42%.
Fake news from NBC.
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