E-Day '06: State Lege
Meet your new State Representatives, Texas ...
District 47: Valinda Bolton
District 93: Paula Hightower-Pierson
District 107: Allen Vaught
District 134: Ellen Cohen
Suburban, exurban, multiple-degreed areas around the state going from red to blue. Start back in 2004 and look at districts like Strama's, Leibowitz's, and Vo's ... add Donna Howards' ... and you just might notice a trend. The big tent is taking shape and urban professionals are starting to lead the way away from the GOP and toward an emerging Democratic majority. Throughout the state, all of 52% of voters cast their vote for a Republican State Rep. candidate (41% Dem, the rest Liberterian). It's still a majority, it's still a healthy lead over our vote. But it shouldn't strike anyone as a daunting challenge to overcome.
Valinda Bolton beat a candidate that dropped a million dollars into a race this cycle (albeit with a primary and runoff), For all of Ellen Cohen's fundraising prowess, she still didn't keep stride with Martha Wong. Hightower-Pierson & Vaught were more even with their opponents in terms of funding. The lesson isn't so much a monetary formula as it is to put the right candidates into districts such as these (though money may be a close second).
Katy Hubener raised about $50k, loaned herself about $50k, which is nothing for a race like hers'. In essence, the money folks gave up on her. She still came in 231 shy of a win. It's pathetic that the donor base out there couldn't pony up, oh, let's say another $50,000.
Karen Felthauser & Ernie Casbeer came in just a hair under 45%. Were Sid Miller & Mike Krusee (
Anyways ... A surprising hold in Pete Laney's seat:
District 85: Joe Heflin
Everytime I remember asking about this race, I'd hear something like "Oh Joe'll be fine. We'll hold that seat." I have to confess. I never believed it for a second. I wrote this off a long time ago. Methinks Pete Laney takes this one personally. The Texas GOP kept gunning for Laney the last few cycles. This time around, they dropped nearly a million bucks into a district that George Bush got 76% of the vote in and they got their tails handed to them. Pete Laney is a freakin' rock star.
And a close one still to be determined. I'm hearing a rumbling or two that we'll look good once the totals are counted, though ....
District 32: Juan Garcia
There's some vote-counting complications going on in this district. But it looks like Juan Garcia will pull this out.
Call it a net gain of five seats for the Democratic Party this go-round. Last cycle, it looked as if we might have seen the Republican tidal wave hit the seawall. We gained a net of one seat, winning three, losing two. Defending the rural, WD-40 type seats will pose a constant challenge over time. Robby Cook had no business being in danger this cycle, but he only barely hung on. Most of the others did remarkably well. By comparison, Chuck Hopson (Go Coogs!) had an easier time against much tougher and much better funded opposition.
Around the Houston area, we had some pleasant upswings, including our own rock star to brag about. I'll give Diane Trautman that title. The woman won a mere 39.9% of the vote, but compare it to the 29.6% that led the pack last time. That's a 10-point swing ... and in another suburban/exurban area with a lot of professional workers. Trautman appealed to that target nicely and got one of the biggest upticks around town.
Sherrie Matula did rather nicely as well, winning 42.3% whereas the baseline was 35% a mere two years ago. Another great profile for a district that will only get riper and riper for the picking.
Scott Hochberg, once more, raised the bar in District 137, winning 58.4% this go-round. You just simply cannot say enough great things about Scott's campaign talent. Similarly, Hubert Vo raised his percentage to a more landslide-ish 54.3%. I'm torn there ... I want to just focus on the due congratulations that Hubert Vo is due ... but at the same time, I have to savor the death of whatever Talmadge Heflin thought was left of his political shelflife. So much for districts that Republicans drew for one of their own, only to lose it and see it shift dramatically away from them. Effective representation. Novel concept, that. Congrats to Scott and Hubert (and Karen Loper).
On the down side, Kristi Thibaut pulled in only 41.76%. Jim Murphy was regarded as the tougher opponent for us all along in that district. The demographics are there for us in this district, I still maintain. Once the detail numbers come out, this will be one worth picking apart. But for now, I'll just leave this as a tip of the hat to a woman that I owe a great deal to and a campaign manager that I've had the incredible fortune of working with a bit and learning from a great deal. I haven't lost an ounce of respect for either for giving it what they had and if Kristi takes another shot at it, she's got my number.
Ellen over Martha ... there's plenty of folks who can offer insight there. Great profile for the district, excellent job of raising money, and another one of those hat tips to Bill Kelly for running the whole show. For all of Martha's missteps, I was still nervous over this one (at least until the numbers came in). And while others can comment on what the win means for Ellen, my relation to the campaign is seeing a great young talent like Bill Kelly get a big win like this. So ... congrats Bill.