Replies

Note: total votes on Nov. 7
123,799
..70,412 total votes in the runoff
..53,387 vote difference.

Where did Bonilla's voters go?...

60,175 Bonilla Nov. 7
32,165 Bonilla Dec. 12
28,010 difference

Nov. 7, special election results

U. S. Representative District 23
	August G. "Augie" Beltran	DEM	2,647	2.13%
	Rick Bolanos	DEM	2,564	2.07%
	Henry Bonilla(I)	REP	60,175	48.60%
	Adrian DeLeon	DEM	2,198	1.77%
	Lukin Gilliland	DEM	13,728	11.08%
	Ciro D. Rodriguez	DEM	24,594	19.86%
	Craig T. Stephens	IND	3,341	2.69%
	Albert Uresti	DEM	14,552	11.75%
			-----------
		Race Total	123,799

Dec. 12, runoff

RACE	NAME		PARTY	EARLY VOTES	PERCENT	TOTAL VOTES	PERCENT
U. S. Representative District 23
	Henry Bonilla - Incumbent		REP	14,419	46.05%	32,165	45.68%
	Ciro D. Rodriguez		DEM	16,896	53.95%	38,247	54.32%
				---------------		---------------
		Total Votes Cast		31,315		70,412
		Precincts Reported		267	of	267 Precincts	100.00%
--------------------------------------------

The article quotes a Bonilla spokesman as blaming the early voting, with something of an insinuation that the Rodriguez campaign acted improperly by securing additional days of early voting. The vote tallies you posted, however, show that Bonilla actually did better (in percentages) in the early voting than he did overall. So that excuse won't fly.

You put your finger on the real question: "Where did Bonilla's voters go?"

Thanks for posting the numbers -- quite startling.