Posted on 11/10/2004 11:20:56 AM PST by anymouse
The numbers are in, and what they show is that Bay Area residents prefer President George W. Bush over U.S. Sen. John Kerry by nearly 2 to 1.
Over sixty-eight percent of the 50,000 ballots cast by Bay Area voters were for Bush, while Kerry took less than 32 percent of the votes.
The election results were remarkably consistent in every Bay Area city; 70 percent of Kemah voters chose Bush, as did 70 percent in Houston's Clear Lake precincts, League City, Nassau Bay, Seabrook and Taylor Lake Village.
Presidential election results by city*
Bush Kerry
Clear Lake 13,874 6,763
El Lago 1,681 548
Kemah 508 218
League City 6,484 2,553
Nassau Bay 1,520 659
Seabrook 2,396 911
Taylor Lake 1,034 379
Webster 5,074 3,000
Like most of the country, many Bay Area voters met long lines at the polls, especially during early voting. The average wait at Clear Lake's Freeman Library was at least an hour and half. The Clear Lake area was also plagued by political sign stealing, even prompting a Clear Lake Forest resident to set up video surveillance that allowed him to catch the vandals in action.
Election highlights
Harris County
Harris County had high voter turnout, with 57.6 percent of the 1.8 million registered voters casting a ballot. In Harris County, Bush took 54.8 percent of the vote to Kerry's 44.6 percent. Of the 1,058,274 votes cast for president, 39,880 were by absentee ballot and 404,263 were cast during early voting.
Republicans candidates for District 2 and District 22 U.S. congressional seats were the victors in Harris County. District 2 U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson (D) lost his bid for re-election by a large margin, taking only 27.8 percent of the Harris County vote. His opponent, Ted Poe (R), won by over 70 percent, taking 102,611 votes to Lampson's 40,572.
In another big race, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (R) won his bid for re-election to represent District 22. DeLay, who found favor in the eyes of many Bay Area residents by coming out against the proposed San Jacinto Rail, took 22,635 more Harris County votes than his democratic opponent, Richard Morrison. Morrison took 41,532 votes to DeLay's 64,167.
Republicans were also the winners in the county races. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal (R) won his bid for re-election with 55 percent of the vote, and Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas was also re-elected, taking 55.4 percent of the vote.
Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt was re-elected, beating his opponent John T. Webb with 603,285 votes to Webb's 431,706.
District 129 State Rep. John Davis, who ran unopposed, was re-elected, as was unopposed Precinct 8 Constable Bill Bailey.
Harris County residents, including Clear Lake residents, also voted on three propositions.
Sixty-three percent of voters approved Proposition 1 to provide majority voter approval before property tax revenues could grow in any fiscal year by the lesser of 4.5 percent of the cumulative combined rates of inflation and population growth. The proposition also limits water and sewer rate increases, and sets a minimum annual increase of 10 percent on senior and disabled homestead exemptions through 2008.
Voters approved Proposition 2 by 56.3 percent, requiring 60 percent voter approval before annual city revenues from all sources combined could increase by more than the combined rates of inflation and population.
Proposition 3 was overwhelmingly approved (84.7 percent), authorizing the city controller to conduct internal audits on the operation of all city departments, offices, agencies and programs.
Galveston County
In Galveston County the turnout was also high, with 57.4 percent of the 185,764 registered voters casting a ballot. Bush won 57.9 percent of the Galveston County vote to Kerry's 42.1 percent.
U.S. Rep. DeLay did not win the majority vote in Galveston County. Morrison took 12,377 votes to DeLay's 9,193.
Republican Cheryl E. Johnson won her race for tax-assessor collector over Incumbent Trish Gibbons. Johnson won 51,952 votes to Gibbins 50,629.
Sheriff Gean Leonard (D) won his bid for re-election against his opponent, J.L. Campbell, Jr. Leonard took 53,429 votes to Campbell's 48,891.
Fifty-sixth District Court Judge Norma Venso (D) lost her bid for re-election against Republican Lonnie Cox. Cox won 51,611 votes to Venso's 49,693.
*Results by city were obtained by tallying results from the following precincts:
Clear Lake: 92, 174, 306, 391, 746, 473, 568, 699, 721, 724, 728, 749, 732, 744, 745, 748.
El Lago: 90
Kemah: 466
League City: 220, 280, 281, 286, 452, 453, 454, 471, 455, 464, 467, 470, 493, 487, 488, 490, 491, 492
Nassau Bay: 307
Seabrook: 415, 692
Taylor Lake Village: 703
Webster: 91, 349, 845, 393, 416, 750
Damn, I thought this was a joke, since I think "San Francisco" when I hear/read "Bay Area" :)
I love Texas! :-)
Nope. We got a better "Bay Area" in these parts. People here actually have brains!
Damn, I thought this was 'MY' Bay Area, the left coast around Commie coddling SF.
I thought the same thing momentarily.
Home Sweet Home ... Zip Code 77062
I voted early (Friday 10/29) and had to wait in line 2 hours ... worth evey second of it.
We got tired of idiots spewing "Gore won the popular vote" so GWB got an extra 700K + from Texas this time around.
Well, over here on the east side of CA we did vote for Bush. The Clear Lake reference threw me off for a second too, but alas not our Bay Area. But the Bay Area and several other population centers on the coast are the only ones who voted for Bush. I read one guys comment that since there are very few truely Blue states that instead of letting them secede we should put all the liberals who want to leave the states in Blue reservations, such as NYC, SF, etc. and let them just govern themselves...I thought that was a fine idea. We could make Kerry the Blue Reservation leader...send him with the rest of the bunch.
Proud member of the 16% of SF residents who voted for W. Happy to do my part!
I love Galveston Bay!
Kerry took all five SF Bay Area counties.
Alameda - 74.8%/24.1%
Contra Costa - 62.3/36.8
Marin - 73.1/25.9
San Francisco - 83.4/15.4 ! - No mystery there!
Santa Clara - 64.1/34.8
Source for this? CA Secy of State's office.
My precinct had a fantastic 76% voter turneout, even if they all had the Koolaid before they came down.
Darn! I thought this was about the People's Republic of San Francisco.
You forgot San Mateo county.
LOL, I thought there was some weird little precints in the SF Bay area that might have been red.
San Mateo Co also went Kerry 69.6%/29.5%
I used to live there, that's why I picked up on that. Those numbers are one of the reasons I left!
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