Paxton, Christian Cruise; Cuellar Squeaks by Cisneros
May 25, 2022 | Election Night Returns
As runoff elections go, it was a pretty good night to be an incumbent, or a former incumbent. Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton (R) and Railroad Comm. Wayne Christian (R) easily turned aside their challengers to secure nominations for a third and second term, respectively. Paxton...
Runoff Candidates Raise More Than $17M for Final Push
May 17, 2022 | Campaign Finance
State candidates facing runoffs were required to file their runoff campaign finance reports yesterday (Monday). These reports disclose contributions received and expenditures made between February 10 and May 14. Most reports were available online today (Tuesday), and...
Abbott, AFL-CIO Issue Runoff Endorsements
Mar 30, 2022 | Campaign News
AG (Lean R): The Texas AFL-CIO endorsed Joe Jaworski (D) in the runoff over Rochelle Garza. The union did not endorse in the primary. LAND open (Likely R): The Texas AFL-CIO endorsed Jay Kleberg (D) in the runoff over Sandragrace Martinez. The union previously...
Recount and Runoff Endorsement News for March 28
Mar 28, 2022 | Campaign News
AG (Lean R): Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner endorsed Joe Jaworski (D) in the runoff over Rochelle Garza. HD23 open (Likely R): Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Patrick Gurski (R) in the runoff over Terri Leo-Wilson. HD52 open (Lean R): Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed...
By the Numbers: First-place Candidates’ Historical Runoff Performance
Mar 20, 2022 | By the Numbers
83% Winning percentage of runoff candidates who finished 10% or more ahead of their challenger in the primary election since 2002. There have been 204 “open” primary runoff elections for state, legislative and federal offices since 2002, and the candidate who finished...
Revisiting Our Mostly Prescient Primary Storylines
Mar 13, 2022 | Political Climate
Now that the dust has (almost) settled from the March 1 primary election, we like to go back and look at the storylines we were watching heading into Election Day. Statewides in Runoff or Runoffs? Turns out, it was runoffs. For the first time since 2002, more than one...
History Repeats Itself: Top Fundraisers Dominate Open-seat Primaries
Mar 3, 2022 | Campaign Finance
We have analyzed historical campaign finance data and election results since 2006 to see how open-seat candidates fared in significant primary races based on their relative fundraising ranks. Unsurprisingly, we found a strong correlation between fundraising rank and...
Primary Night Delivers Some Drama, Lots of Runoffs
Mar 2, 2022 | Political Climate
Note: We will not have percentages for some races, including all statewide races, because of delays in counting Harris Co.’s votes (and some others including Dallas and Tarrant Cos.). Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) cruised to their...
House Primaries Missing Some of the Big Bets from Conservative Groups
Feb 23, 2022 | breaking-news, Campaign Finance, House Race Analyses
House candidates facing primary opposition raised nearly $11M and spent over $13M during the roughly monthlong period covered by their 8-day-out reports. While that’s a fair amount, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) outspent the entire slate of House candidates by himself....
Newspaper Endorsement News for February 6
Feb 6, 2022 | Campaign News
Early voting for the March 1 primary begins a week from tomorrow (Monday). GOV (Likely R): The San Antonio Express-News endorsed Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Beto O’Rourke (D) for their respective party’s nominations. AG (Lean R): The San Antonio Express-News endorsed Eva...
30-day-out Reports: Few Surprises, Lots of Cash on Hand
Feb 1, 2022 | Campaign Finance
Statewide and legislative candidates facing primary opposition raised just over $10.3M and spent at least $22.1M during the first 20 days of 2022, according to 30-day-out reports filed yesterday (Monday) and available online today. Collectively, the candidates have...
Ad, Endorsement and Special Election News for January 25
Jan 25, 2022 | Campaign News
LTGOV (Lean R): Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s (R) campaign released a new ad, “Promise,” featuring former President Trump’s endorsement and a familiar pickup truck. SD25 (Likely R): Sen. Donna Campbell’s (R-New Braunfels) campaign released a new ad, “HealthCare,” focusing on...