Election Night — Part II: AP calls the race for Cruz
Slowly but inexorably, Cruz is widening his lead. It’s up to 8 points now statewide.
Looking at House races:
BONNEN-SITTON
Bonnen is “sitton” pretty:
Bonnen 57.0%
Sitton 42.9%
JIM LANDTROOP-KEN KING
Landtroop is winning. He’s hard to beat.
CRUZ WINS URBAN/SUBURBAN TEXAS
Look at these numbers:
Collin County:
Cruz 13,526
Dewhurst 8,880
Harris County:
Cruz 42,268
Dewhurst 27,047
Tarrant County:
Cruz 19,683
Dewhurst 15,078
Montgomery County:
Cruz 11,634
Dewhurst 6705
Dallas and Travis are the only big voting counties that are close. Both are pretty much an even split.
Reality Check says:
Is it to early to say the Perry campaign staff (especially Carney and Rob Johnson) ain’t so good anymore?
They had all the advantages and presided over a terrible effort that missed the message mark at every turn.
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paulburka Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Not too early for me. I’ve been appalled by the Dewhurst campaign from the start.
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MakLey Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:35 pm
I just got an email from the Dewhurst campaign, reminding me to vote today (and of Gov Perry’s endorsement). Received in my inbox at 9:19pm. Little late…just like their campaign.
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SouthTex114 says:
Paul, are you now willing to go back on your previous comments that Republicans with hispanic surnames can’t win in the GOP primnary?
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Robert Morrow Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:07 pm
That little concept has just got blown out of the water.
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anonymous Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Medina is losing
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Robert Morrow Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Now we get to see “cognitive dissonance” with the press writing how terrible it is Devine beats Medina WHILE at the same time Ted Cruz gets a gargantuan Tea Party win.
The religious right was a big factor in the Devine win; he also put a lot of shoe leather in that race.
Bill E Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:18 pm
What about Supreme Court race that Medina lost. Medina’s opponent is totally unqualified. I’ll be voting for the dem in that race in Nov.
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paulburka Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I’m about to write about that.
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Alan says:
I kept saying the Tea Party’s base is in the suburbs, contrary to the “ignorant country folks” image so many misinformed liberals stick to. The Democrats used to have a tug-of-war between rural conservatives and urban liberals. Today, it’s the Republicans who face a mirror image of that dynamic: far-right conservatives in suburbs and exurbs of major cities, and mainstream Republicans in small towns and rural areas.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Ok. But the question is why is that happening? What are the dynamics driving that split?
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Neva Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:41 pm
This Liberal wonders if you are labeling all of Cruz’s voters as Tea Party affiliates? Or is the Tea Party simply a convenient, less threatening term for every selfish, sexist, anti-choice, racist, gun-toting Texan, who reject any responsibility for the Bush/Perry dynamic duo, who have driven Texas into third world status?
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Alan Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 10:21 pm
Picture three different kinds of Texans:
Texan #1 lives in the Houston inside the Loop. The neighborhood is well-to-do but old; city water lines are having to be redone and city streets are being torn up and repaved. One minute you’re driving through River Oaks or the gentrified part of Midtown; the next you’re passing ramshackle houses and apartments where the working poor and the underclass live.
Texan #2 lives in a suburb like Plano or Cinco Ranch. All of his neighborhood streets have been freshly paved by the real estate developer. Common areas are maintained by HOA fees, which are basically a highly regressive form of taxation (everyone pays a fixed fee regardless of income). There are no poor people to worry about; they can’t afford the houses there and the gated entrance literally keeps them out. Private security guards generally maintain order outside of serious situations.
Texan #3 lives in a little town in the Panhandle or the Piney Woods. There are a few people who still farm; subsidies and crop insurance help them stay solvent. The young people have moved to the cities; the old people left behind rely on Social Security and Medicare, which in turn fuel economic activity. They’d really like the state to appropriate funds to expand the highway that goes through their town, in hopes that it will bring more traffic and business there.
If one of these Texans was going to support the Tea Party, which do you think it would be? I’ll let you fill in the blanks as to why.
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longleaf Reply:
August 1st, 2012 at 5:44 am
There are no subsidies for pine trees or practically anything else able to grow or be raised in the Piney Woods region.
The Teapublican brand is very strong here. Your attempts to generalize have failed.
Teapublicans are motivated in no small measure by the fact they don’t like (actually, the term “hate” comes closer to describing their mental state) Obama, for obvious reasons.
If anything, this sentiment is even stronger in rural areas.
Blue Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 10:11 pm
There is a lot of misunderstanding of the Tea Party, on both sides.
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Spiro Eagleton says:
I’ve been saying for months that Cruz would win 55-45. I think I may be proven correct tonight.
Also, I just heard that Dewhurst was asked about his election night party and he told a staffer, “Let’s shut it down.”
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yeah! says:
Ken King’s vote count is looking much better!
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paulburka Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Good!!!
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Anonymous says:
Question: Who has worked for Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and David Dewhurst?
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Robert Morrow Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Please, keep rubbing it in. It is considered fair play to kick the Perrybots when they are down.
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Anonymous Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Lot of people’s asses are hurting tonight.
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Anonymous Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Dave Carney and Rob Johnson worked for Gingrich, Perry, and Dewhurst.
What is next for them?
MCC says:
Copy/pasting since this appears to be the new thread now…
SD114
Villalba 54.3%
Keffer 45.7%
SD115
Ratliff 53.75%
Nguyen 46.25%
Also, Domingo Garcia is up 70/30 on Mark Veasey in the CD33 Democratic runoff.
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anonymous Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Huh
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MCC says:
Villalba’s up to 55.58% with 22 of 68 precincts in
Ratliff now over 54% with 20 of 55 in
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Anonymous Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 9:56 pm
HD115, Rep. Jim Jackson endorsed Ratliff, and so did County Commissioner Maurine Dickey. That was probably enough to allow Ratliff to win.
HD114, Looks like Villalba will win unless Keffer had a huge turnout in Lake Highlands. The political establishment (Carona, Hensarling, were for Keffer but it looks like turnout was better west of Central Expressway.
Veasey has the edge in CD33 but it looks like Garcia did get his base out in Oak Cliff.
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anonymous says:
Was Lantroop ever ahead? He is getting crushed.
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JK says:
Cruz appeals to much more than just Tea Party types. He is a brilliant man who immediately becomes the most accomplished legal mind in the US Senate. And unlike the vast majority of nuts & bolts “transaction-oriented” lawyer-legislators, the most critical skill for practitioners of Constitutional law is the ability to assemble and present arguments that persuade others. On this, he has proven to be very successful. Tonight is merely the latest example. Since they are both conservative, I’ll take the brilliant energetic lawyer in his early 40s over the professional legislator in his mid 60′s any day.
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yeah! says:
Great night for Texas Parent PAC.
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Charlie Adaway says:
JK is completely high. Two eight balls and a bottle of old crow high. To argue that logic and reason and persuasiveness make a difference in the US Senate demonstrates a profound substance abuse problem.
Teddy Cruz is AstroTurf. And he will be exposed. And now that he is basically senator-elect, NYT v Sullivan applies. Hold on, everybody!
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