Twas the day after the 2014 primary, and all throughout Texas, tea party voters were shouting, we’re in control of this house. Or something like that.
My, my, one very surprising outcome. But first, I want to say a big thanks to Barbara and Richard Florance, Neil Moyer, and my girl for working with me on election day and running a smooth election. We arrived at our location at 6:00 am amid pouring rain and 34° F cold and finished packing up and delivering the equipment around 9:15 pm. As far as I know, we had no complaints and the experience that Richard and Barbara brought were the biggest part of that.
Lt. Governor’s race
If you predicted that Sen. Dan Patrick would lead this race by a comfortable margin over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, I tip my hat to you. I surely didn’t see that coming, thinking, like most Texans, that David would be somewhere around 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} and Dan around 30{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. The voters flipped that and it went Dan 41{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, David 28{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. As I noted here, Dan ran an almost flawless race and you have to tip your hat to his general consultant, Allen Blakemore. It is going to be very hard for David to reverse this and win the runoff. He might want to think about his legacy and consider his alternatives.
Streusand to the runoff
One race that did follow predictions was the race to replace Rep. Steve Stockman in CD-36. Dr. Brian Babin and Ben Streusand will face off in my home district. After we finished at the polls last night, we stopped by Streusand’s victory party and he was very upbeat, as expected. Although I enjoyed meeting Dr. Babin, Ben remains my choice to fill this seat and I think that as more voters in deep East Texas meet him, he’ll be able to convince them that he is the right choice.
Vote of no confidence for Pratt
Over 70{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the voters said no to returning the incompetent Denise Pratt to the bench. If she were half the person her supporters say she is, she would do the honorable thing and step aside now. It was a close race for second, with Alicia Franklin making the runoff with 23{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the vote. I don’t know Ms. Franklin as she declined to meet with me but as they say, Anyone But Pratt. I was proud of the race that my friend Anthony Magdaleno ran, relying strictly on a grassroots campaign and refusing to pay money to the slate mailers but in the end, the slates won the day.
HCRP Chair race
Paul Simpson managed to win without a runoff and that is a good thing for the party. A runoff would have deepened the split between social conservatives and moderates. Now the hard work starts for Simpson, as he must transition quickly from negative campaigning mode to reconciliation and leadership. It will be very interesting to watch and we’ll be able to tell fairly quickly what the party will look like during his tenure. The biggest winner was probably Phil Owens, the consultant that helped Paul to victory. I’ve said for at least the last 5 elections that Phil is the best ground game guy in Harris County. This time he had the money to fully exploit his ability and you see the results.
I’ll write separately about the slates because they have dominated the talk this cycle. Are the big 3 losing their grip on Harris County? We’ll see but I can tell you for certain that the ladies had a great day in my area.
Now, about the pay for people that work on election day. If the rate isn’t raised, we need to unionize!
Dave Smith says
I was definitely surprised by the Lt. Governor results. One thing (and maybe I’m being hopefully optmistic here) is that Dan Patrick may have hit his ceiling. He’s got a core group of avid supporters, and you know they turned out despite the rain, cold, etc. The non-Patrick supporters divided their votes, and Dewhurst, not being a “movement”-type politician, didn’t have that core support. I can’t imagine any Patterson supporters moving over to Patrick, and the Staples folks were pretty steamed at Patrick’s mischaracterizations (at best) of Staples’s positions. This could easily be one of those McCain vs. Huckabee-type races — Dewhurst may not inspire enthusiasm, but Patrick inspires a lot of negative enthusiasm. We’ll see, it will definitely be interesting to see how negative this gets.
I agree that it was a good thing that we avoided a runoff for the HCRP Chair. We certainly did not need further division moving forward, and it would’ve taken time and resources better spent planning for November.
Glad to see Sarah Davis escape her primary challenge; a loss there would’ve meant a near-definite pickup for the Dems in November. I’m normally a fan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, but I thought they missed the boat on trying to primary her.
Based on the resolutions I’m hearing about, it should be an interesting set of Senate District Conventions in Harris County!
Ann says
I was shocked! I really thought Dan would win without a runoff! Oh well, he will win in the end and by a huge margin!
Dave Smith says
There was no evidence to suggest that Patrick — or any other candidate — would win outright in the first round. Based on the enmity he inspires based on his outright lying about the other candidates and his scorched-earth approach to campaigning, don’t expect supporters to fall in line with him.
judas1goeb1woodfill says
Dan Patrick lecturing Ted Cruz in June 2012 on KSEV – “I have not endorsed David Dewhurst. That’s a lie. … Let me be very clear Ted. I’m not endorsing you for the senate position. I’m not endorsing David Dewhurst for the senate position. Ok? … David Dewhurst agrees with me on 98{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the matters. … Ted, you don’t know what you’re talking about. … To sit there and suggest that a guy who volunteered for Vietnam, who served in the CIA, and who has fought in the Legislature for the last 10 years isn’t a fighter, I think is an insult to him. … Ted, I’m not going to sit here and let you call me a liar.”
30 days later, Dan Patrick endorsing Dewhurst on Facebook – “I’m voting for [Dewhurst]…He is well qualified based on the job he has done in Texas helping us pass the most conservative legislative package in the nation, limiting spending, and creating the best economy in the country. … Dewhurst has done a good job as Lieutenant Governor. The conservative legislative record, our economy, and job growth speaks for itself. He’s experienced, a veteran, and a successful businessman.”
GoldBacon says
Yay Phil! He helped Jared win two cycles ago IIRC. Maybe Woodfill should have paid to retain him! Sometimes you don’t know a good thing until it’s gone.
I’ll also echo Dave’s comment above…glad to see Sarah Davis win easily. I live in her district and it would have been a slam dunk to turn that seat Dum.
GoldBacon says
One clarification…Phil Owens is an excellent Campaign Consultant – not just a ground game specialist. I’m sure BJ didn’t mean to slight him but I know that other consultants around town try to demean him by saying that he’s just a tactics guy. As stated in BJ’s original post he has operated for years on shoestring budgets with little to no room for error in any facet of the campaign; thus he became a master at tactical deployment of campaign resources by necessity.
However, I can think of at least two recent (last 5-6 years) campaigns off the top of my head where he was hired as an “advisor” to a family member or friend who was nominally acting as “campaign manager”. Phil’s strategic vision is the reason those candidates won their elections.
judas1goeb1woodfill says
Sarah Davis, Mike Schofield, Paul Simpson, and Chris Daniel put on a campaign clinic…
Small Government Conservative says
Absolutely LOVE the fact that David omits the Sarah Davis race despite having spotlighted it earlier in his fluff piece. What was it? Something about how the race would be surprisingly close in the very Conservative HD 134? Also, here’s to Paul Simpson and saving the HCRP. I hope David can stop the erratic “i’m for fixing the party/actually I want the status quo” and get back to writing the good blog content I previously enjoyed. Campaigns matter. Elections matter. We have to start winning them.
paul Kubosh says
Two thumbs up for phil owens. People forget he was our campaign consultant in the camera and city campaign. However not on a shoe string button.
Eric Dick says
Phil Owens is likely one of the best political consultants in Harris County
TAD says
I am supporting Ben in the CD36 race also. What I can’t understand is how Babin had the ego to run for this ofice again after he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions and fined a whopping $20,000 by the FEC (plus $5k more) as a participant in the Tom Delay scandal. Google Delay Babin Fec fines and find a dozen stories on this, or go to Salon.com/delay. The GOP has worked too hard to get past behaviour like this to have it show up again!
tcombs says
Like all else from Salon.com – a shock-value radical leftist blog with gems such as the benefits of post-birth abortion or how Republicans are all racist – this is absurd left-wing fantasy.
The truth, easily found via public record, is actually a great plus for Babin. He was specifically targeted by LOIS LERNER. She cut her teeth at the FEC prior to joining the IRS where she continued persecuting patriots and Tea Party groups. As head of enforcement at the FEC, Lerner specifically targeted conservative groups like the Christian Coalition and candidates like Babin based on Democrat complaints in an effort to stop conservative activism. All other authorities exonerated Babin due to lack of evidence except for Lois Lerner.
Lerner’s burdensome investigation of these conservative groups/candidates cost them all thousands of dollars, and untold time and sacrifice. Babin was unfortunately one of Lois Lerner’s many conservative victims throughout her now-notorious career as a partisan, out-of-control bureaucrat.
Don Hooper says
The quicker we can get Phil on someones payroll the quicker we can get him off the CPR payroll. Someone please give him a job so we spend our money more wisely.