Primary Runoffs 2010: The Liveblog
by Ross Ramsey and Morgan Smith
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We'll be liveblogging results and other tidbits here as they come in tonight in 18 runoff races — 16 on the Republican side, two on the Democratic side — from around the state.
Liveblog
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El Paso numbers will be an hour late — Mountain Daylight. Everybody else will start releasing numbers in about a half hour.
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The live results can be found in the Election Wire, now up (though it's full of goose eggs until the Secretary of State starts reporting results), and on our runoff landing page. It's at this link.
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It's working! (You have no idea what a relief it is to say that in a tech-heavy environment.) Thanks, as usual, to Niran Babalola, a member of our League of Internet Whisperers, for making the Election Wire and the Runoff landing page seem so... effortless.
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We had reporters out on the most newsworthy runoffs and their stories are now listed alongside the results on the runoff results page...
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Early voting numbers show Tarrant and Dallas counties going heavily for Fort Worth native Debra Lehrmann. She's also carrying Travis. Without all precincts reporting, Green's got the lead in Harris.
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In CD-23, Quico Canseco has Bexar County, the population center of the district, over Will Hurd by about 900 votes in early numbers.
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Marsha Farney is out to a big early lead in the SBOE-10 race. In (very) early returns, she's up by a 63-27 margin over Brian Russell.
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March of the Incumbents:
Fred Brown of Bryan is up in early voting with 62 percent over Buddy Winn in HD-14... Charles Perry has an early lead over Delwin Jones in HD-83, with under 2,000 votes counted (there were more than 25,000 voters in that race in round one). That district includes Lubbock, Hockley, Cochran, Yoakum and Gaines counties in West Texas... and the polls aren't closed yet in the third incumbent race, where El Paso's Norma Chavez faces Naomi Gonzalez in HD-76.
Fred Brown of Bryan is up in early voting with 62 percent over Buddy Winn in HD-14... Charles Perry has an early lead over Delwin Jones in HD-83, with under 2,000 votes counted (there were more than 25,000 voters in that race in round one). That district includes Lubbock, Hockley, Cochran, Yoakum and Gaines counties in West Texas... and the polls aren't closed yet in the third incumbent race, where El Paso's Norma Chavez faces Naomi Gonzalez in HD-76.
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In Jim Hogg county (who is Jim Hogg?), 9 people voted early in the Supreme Court race. Only one of those votes went to Lehrmann.
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Ahem. James Hogg was once governor of our fair state, and was the first one born here. Read up!
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Looks like Brian Russell isn't ahead in a single county in the SBOE-10 race (we've got a live map of that one, and of the statewide race for the GOP's Texas Supreme Court nomination). It's not all in, but what's in belongs to Farley.
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Dan Huberty has a big early lead over Dr. Susan Curling in the HD-127 race to replace Rep. Joe Crabb, R-Atascocita. They spent the last several days hurling lightning bolts at each other. He's got 73 percent in early tallies.
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Mark Griffin, the former Texas Tech regent hoping to replace retiring Rep. Carl Isett in Lubbock, is running behind (he just missed an outright win in the first round) John Frullo. It's close, though: 52-48 percent.
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Associated Press is calling Charles Perry the winner over Delwin Jones in HD-83. With 28 percent of the precincts counted, Perry has 57 percent.
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And AP's calling the HD-52 race for Larry Gonzalez, who's got 67 percent of the early vote over John Gordon. The winner of that Republican primary will face Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock.
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Van Taylor leads Mabrie Griffith Jackson in early voting in the race to succeed former Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano. Taylor's got 58 percent to Jackson's 42 percent.
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TIGHT! Naomi Gonzalez beat Norma Chavez in early voting by 111 votes. That could foreshadow a looooooong count.
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A message from Rick Green on his Facebook page: "Hey team, we're behind 52.8% to 47.2%. Still lots to count. Be encouraged either way this turns out...Duty is ours, results are God's. The prairie fire starts tonight no matter what. This is one race in a generational battle between socialism & freedom. We had the ENTIRE establishment, lobby, etc. against us and it's s...till neck & neck! That's a great sign that "we the people" are back in the game!"
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Talked to a couple of GOP consultants tonight (most of the primaries are on their side) and they offer up something that sounds like a rule of thumb: A statehouse candidate who's not within 300-500 votes in early voting usually can't turn it around. Outside that window right now (test the rule, just like they made you do in physics): Buddy Winn, John Gordon, Mabrie Griffith Jackson, Delwin Jones, Susan Curling.
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Just spoke with Debra Lehrmann. She says she's watching the numbers come in at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Fort Worth and is "very excited and nervous, just on pins and needles" for tonight's results.
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The Associated Press has called HD-14 for Fred Brown. With all precincts reporting, he got 63 percent of the vote.
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Inside that 300-vote window: Holly Turner, 138 votes behind Paul Workman... Mark Griffin, less than 200 behind John Frullo (that's going well for Frullo, though, with 81 percent of the precincts in)... and Dianne Williams, 76 votes behind Jack O'Connor in the HD-149 race to challenge Democratic Rep. Hubert Vo of Houston.
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It's John Frullo! With 100 percent of the precincts counted, he got 53 percent to Mark Griffin's 47 percent.
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The Frullo win is also a proxy win for outgoing Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, over Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. Isett had the winner; Duncan, the loser.
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Fred Brown's the winner. 100 percent in, and Brown, R-Bryan, will get another term in the House (no Democrats or Libertarians or Independents filed). Brown beat Buddy Winn, with 63 percent of the vote.
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And officially: Charles Perry is on his way to the Texas House, winning a primary in a year when the other party doesn't have a candidate. He beat Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, with 58 percent. Perry's a co-founder of Lubbock County's Tea Party. And, like it did in the first round, that race drew a tremendous number of voters: 16,835. That's more than voted in most House districts in the March primary.
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Canseco's campaign says they're "cautiously optimistic" about tonight. Hurd's team points out that they lagged until the last minute on primary night, too. Right now, with 75 percent of precincts in, Canseco has 55 percent of the vote. There's still some Bexar County votes to be counted.
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Check out a livestream of Bill Flores' victory speech here: http://www.billfloresforcongress.com/live (it's defunct at the moment). He'll go on to challenge Chet Edwards in the fall.
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Rob Curnock, according to the Bill Flores campaign, has conceded the CD-17 runoff. Flores is far, far ahead, with 65 percent of the votes and 85 percent of the precincts counted. He'll face U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, in November.
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Awaiting a call from Canseco on his win; his campaign said they learned that the AP had called for him from the twitter feed of your favorite non-profit, nonpartisan news site.
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I'll add, though, that Green's making a strong showing in Harris County, with about 80 percent of the votes in.
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Rep. Norma Chavez is having a hard time in El Paso, trailing Democratic rival Naomi Gonzalez by 206 votes (out of 4,016), with 54 percent of the precincts counted. She's one of three incumbents on the runoff ballot. So far, one lost (Delwin Jones) and one won (Fred Brown).
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R. Blake Farenthold beat James Duerr in CD-27 and will face U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, in November.
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Put a fork in Rob Curnock, officially now. With everything counted, he got just 36 percent to Bill Flores' 64 percent.
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Van Taylor is almost home, with 58 percent of the vote and four-fifths of the precincts counted. He's running against former Plano City Councilwoman Mabrie Jackson.
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And while I was writing that last one, it ended. Taylor's on his way to the Texas House, having won 58 percent of the vote. No Democrats in his way in November.
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The AP has just called it for Lehrmann. She will face Democrat Jim Sharp in the general election.
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The Battle of Williamson County is over, with Larry Gonzales beating John Gordon for the right to challenge Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, in November. Gonzalez got 71 percent.
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Marsha Farney is on her way to a win in the SBOE-10 contest, which hasn't looked like a contest at all tonight. She's 8,000 votes ahead of Brian Russell with 76 percent of the precincts counted, and the Associated Press has called the race in her favor.
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Lehrmann says she's "so thankful" that the "voters have been able to grasp the importance of this election." Also: "I really want Rick Green to know that I appreciate him and what he's done for the state of the Texas in his own way."
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From the "Shoot what moves, claim what drops" files, we bring you the latest missive from Empower Texans...
Turner's race is still being counted, and she's behind. The others all won their races today.
Run-Off Victories
Statement from Empower Texans president Michael Quinn Sullivan
AUSTIN, Texas -- The president of Empower Texans said Tuesday night's run-off election was a strong demonstration of how motivated conservatives voters are in the 2010 election season. Six of the seven legislative candidates endorsed by Empower Texans won tonight.
"This is a very good night for conservatives. With the defeat of an entrenched incumbent like Delwin Jones, and the election of strong, positive conservatives like Charles Perry, John Frullo, Larry Gonzales, Van Taylor and others, it's clear that Republican voters want commonsense conservatives who will lead Texas in the right direction with the right ideas," said Sullivan, who also heads the group's political action committee, the Empower Texans PAC. "We were excited to stand alongside these candidates in the primaries and look forward to their November victories."
The Empower Texans PAC endorsed the following candidates in the run-off election:
House District 14: Fred Brown
House District 47: Holly Turner
House District 52: Larry Gonzales
House District 66: Van Taylor
House District 83: Charles Perry
House District 84: John Frullo
House District 149: Jack O'Connor
Turner's race is still being counted, and she's behind. The others all won their races today.
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Canseco says "I'm very humbled, but I'm very very thrilled." He's celebrating at the Omni Hotel in San Antonio, where "we have drinks, we have balloons, we have laughs, we have hugs."
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In CD-15, where U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, is the incumbent, Republican Eddie Zamora beat Paul Haring in the GOP primary. He got 57 percent and will face Hinojosa in November.
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Another final: Paul Workman defeated Holly Turner in a suburban Austin district where Democrat Valinda Bolton is the incumbent. Workman got 54 percent against Turner, a recent transplant to the district whose campaign was run by her husband's political consulting firm.
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Chavez is still close, but she's running out of time. With 81 percent of the precincts counted, she's 320 votes behind Gonzalez, and has 47.5 percent of the vote.
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Robert Pruett beat Winston Cochran in the Democratic primary in CD-14, where the winner gets the right to challenge U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute. Pruett got 52 percent.
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Stick a fork in Brian Russell. He's got just 38 percent with 99 percent of the precincts counted. Marsha Farney will face Democrat Judy Jennings in that SBOE-10 race in November. The GOP primary pitted Russell, supported by social conservatives, against Farney, a well-financed career educator. His loss further weakens a bloc of votes that currently controls the SBOE.
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Clayton Trotter defeated Joseph "Jaime" Martinez in CD-20 and will face U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio.
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The HD-127 race is over, with Dan Huberty taking 71 percent on his way to a November general election against Democrat Joe Montemayor. Dr. Susan Curling was the loser.
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Norma Chavez called Naomi Gonzalez and conceded a few minutes ago, according to folks in the challenger's camp. The El Paso Times has called the race and so has the Associated Press.
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Rick Green offers some final words on Facebook. Noting that "victory comes sometimes in ways we have difficulty understanding initially" he says, "24,000 liberty lovers right here on this Facebook page are engaged and ready for the next battle. Let's rededicate ourselves to doing our duty, regardless of the results...we keep doing our duty, learn from each battle, and fight harder on the next mission. We took on the entire establishment, they outspent us 5 to 1 and used libelous advertising to barely win. This tells you just how scared the power brokers were and our response should be to redouble our efforts."
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