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DEMOCRATIC hopes for a blue wave in Texas were dashed last night. It remains unlikely they will flip the Texas House in 2020.
Perennial candidate Gary Gates (R) trounced Elizabeth Markowitz (D) in the HD 28 special election run-off 58.05% to 41.95%. Markowitz performed four points worse than the last Democrat to run for the House seat.
While this is a special election, the result is not outside the acceptable and anticipated margin of victory/defeat.
In November 2019, it was evident efforts to win the HD 28 special election would fail. Still, state and national Democrats, including presidential candidates Biden, Warren, and Bloomberg, parachuted into Texas, claiming Texas was turning blue.
Democrat operatives and members of the media suggested that Democrats would win the seat, and it would be a sign of things to come in Texas. After analysis of early voting results, those same groups began distancing from the race.
Excuses following the beat down were predictable. For the record, money was not lopsided in the race. Rice professor Mark Jones, hardly a rightwinger, noted Democrats dropped over $2 million on the competition.
HD 26, another Fort Bend County seat Democrats have targeted moves to likely Republican. How does @JessicaPost have a job?
JOANN FLEMING, one of the state’s most influential Tea Party leaders, and other conservative activists were interviewed by the Texas Tribune to drive a wedge between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his abandoned principals and allies.
Washed out politician Jerry Patterson quoted in the article suggests conservative activists are only satisfied with home runs. How about some singles?
FORT WORTH is asking the Texas Supreme Court to declare eight-liners illegal lotteries.
For the unacquainted, eight-liners are those slot machines perched at the back of convenience stores. Eight liners payout prizes like flat screens TVs, and Xboxes instead of cash, which would be used to buy flat screens TVs and Xboxes.
While most Texans likely recognize handfuls of machines in gas stations, game rooms filled with eight-liners resembling a casino floor exist on seedy side streets all over the state. These game rooms are linked to crime, including illicit drug and money laundering activity.
Game rooms are regulated, subverting state law prohibiting gambling. They’re gambling.
KAY GRANGER’S son is paid $250K by a tax-funded project she helped establish and lobbies the feds for funding. The project is an abject failure.
Hit the links
Prominent PACs propped up Bonnen, even as Rangers investigated
Agency delays vote on moving Cenotaph ($)
SMU Sued for Severing Ties With Church
Montgomery County attorney urges no action on polling place regulations
Retired teachers group director says members shocked by TRS rent
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