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SAN ANTONIO -- Republican Pete Flores defeated Democrat Pete Gallego in the special runoff election for State Senate District 19. It's a major upset in district that has traditionally favored Democrats.
Flores had about 53 percent of the vote to Gallego's 47 percent in unofficial returns Tuesday night. Gallego conceded to Flores around 9 p.m. according to Flores' campaign.
Tuesday night was the final round of a special election to replace former Democratic State Sen. Carlos Uresti, who resigned earlier this year after 11 felony convictions. The winner will finish Uresti's term which extends through 2020.
I'm sure that Gallego thought this was "in the bag" -- he is well known (elected politician for over 20 years) in a totally BLUE District with a lot of money and the standard Power base in a BLUE District.
That Big Blue Wave is coming ...... or maybe not.
This election will shake up a lot of people.
I don't know if Texas Senate District 19 represents the pulse of the nation. You seem to have left out the part where the previous seat holder was arrested on fraud charges. And the part where the district was redrawn to make it more competitive. And the part where state Republicans broke out the "big guns" to heavily endorse and fund the Republican candidate.
Mind you, there are only Democrats to blame for this loss. Prior to this runoff, they had the votes. The total of Democratic votes were more than the Republican votes, but no candidate got to 50%. They simply didn't show up to vote. And that will be the cautionary tale for the midterms. Will Democratic voters actually show up at the polls?
The turnout for some of the recent special elections were great for Democrats, but it tricked them into thinking it was going to be like that overall.
This here special election is a reminder that high Dem turnout is not a given.
This here special election is a reminder that high Dem turnout is not a given.
I think that's the main takeaway here.
Most of the House seats Democrats are expecting to flip are Republican seats in commonly blue states (CA, NY, NJ, MN, PA). Yes, I'm putting PA in that column even though Trump won it. There are some red states with Republican seats at risk, but those are less likely to flip.
It always comes down to turn-out. Polls are just a popularity contest by people willing to answer it. But will they actually show up on election day? Who knows? My county had a Democratic primary runoff election the other day. I hadn't even heard about it until the booths closed. There were a lot of Republicans I know that showed up to vote for the weaker candidate. I'm not complaining about that. But I am disappointed that the Democratic party in my state/county/town didn't put up signs or anything.
So, my county has about 150k people in it. The districts are roughly divided up by population similar to how we do House districts. There's about 20k people in each district and about 15k eligible voters. For this particular primary runoff, there was a total of 1000 votes cast. That's it. 6.6% turnout.
Now, to be fair, it was a primary runoff. And it wasn't for statewide office or a federal office (like Senator or House rep). But, that's an abysmally low turnout. And if red-state Democrats are only showing up at a 6% clip... sure it will be higher in the midterms, but it goes to show that turnout is what matters.
I don't know if Texas Senate District 19 represents the pulse of the nation. You seem to have left out the part where the previous seat holder was arrested on fraud charges. And the part where the district was redrawn to make it more competitive. And the part where state Republicans broke out the "big guns" to heavily endorse and fund the Republican candidate.
Mind you, there are only Democrats to blame for this loss. Prior to this runoff, they had the votes. The total of Democratic votes were more than the Republican votes, but no candidate got to 50%. They simply didn't show up to vote. And that will be the cautionary tale for the midterms. Will Democratic voters actually show up at the polls?
Of course Texas Senate District does NOT "represent the pulse of the Nation" - it does say a lot about Texas. You are correct - the former State Senator was convicted on 11 Felony counts and has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. The District was redrawn in 2010 and absolutely nothing changed about the Democrats being elected to office ..... did you miss the part about this District held by a Democrat for 139 YEARS?
Voters elected political newcomer Pete Flores to the Texas Senate on Tuesday, flipping a Democratic district red for the first time in 139 years and bolstering Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber ahead of the November elections.
In his victory speech, Flores reflected about the historic significance of his win and the job ahead. “This district has not been Republican since Reconstruction. And in September of 2018, it’s Republican once again,” Flores told supporters. “The work starts tomorrow.”
Christian Archer, Gallego’s campaign strategist, said he was shocked by the results, adding that they weren’t able to generate as much excitement as the Republicans.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston and author of “Inside Texas Politics,” credited Gallego’s loss to complacency.
Democrats (if any of them are actually left) REALLY need to get their act together -- I don't personally like super majorities and that is exactly what the Texas Senate has now. I prefer a basically purple Legislature where both parties are forced to work together. It's what is best for everyone.
Keep the good ones in both parties and replace the bad ones in both parties. BALANCE
That's certainly not where either Texas or the Nation is today and it's bad news for everyone. The total Hysterical Meltdown since the 2016 Election is causing a LOT of harm and going from worse to disaster.
At this point -- our only hope of finding some way forward is to remove the crazy people and try to find Normal People to put in office. Democrats are either Crazy or they are afraid of the Crazy Leftists that are driving them to extinction. They better wake up before it's too late.
At this point in time -- there is NO WAY that I would vote for ANY Democrat - they are too dangerous.
When Democrats decide to give into the Socialists and accept the orders of the Socialists - they can't be trusted at all. Flores has 2 years to prove himself, he needs to think in terms of his entire constituency OR he will be replaced in 2021 .... that's as it should be.
That's a silly whine from somebody that must know ZERO about Texas. This District is Democratic Majority, has always been Democratic Majority and has has a Democrat in office since Reconstruction after the Civil War ...... 139 YEARS.
District 19 is one of the largest legislative districts in the United States, containing all or part of 17 counties and covering more than 35,000 square miles and about 400 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. The district contains 55 public school districts, more than 23,000 oil and gas wells, 10 state parks, three national parks, and more than 2,700 miles of highways and interstate transportation infrastructure. Redistricting in 2010 led to District 19 losing several western counties and gaining several eastern ones.
After the 2010 redistricting - (which was not contested by Democrats and why should it be? They still had what they wanted) - you will note that the Democrats continued to hold the seat.
This loss is a result of the unhappiness with what is going on .... not anything to do with "gerrymandering". I know this area, I have family with property in this area. They don't have computer access or even cell phone service in many areas, they are poor, they are used to the corruption that has always permeated this area - but it's getting worse and more dangerous as the Narco Gangs move in.
High Tech campaigning via Social Media doesn't work. What it tells me is that "Hate Trump" and the lack of message by the Democrats is not good enough for these voters. They are heavily impacted by the open border policies. They want DACA solved and it's clear the Democrats don't want that -- they want DACA has a weapon against Republicans. They want Guest Worker programs, the Democrats don't.
At this point -- our only hope of finding some way forward is to remove the crazy people and try to find Normal People to put in office. Democrats are either Crazy or they are afraid of the Crazy Leftists that are driving them to extinction. They better wake up before it's too late.
At this point in time -- there is NO WAY that I would vote for ANY Democrat - they are too dangerous.
When Democrats decide to give into the Socialists and accept the orders of the Socialists - they can't be trusted at all. Flores has 2 years to prove himself, he needs to think in terms of his entire constituency OR he will be replaced in 2021 .... that's as it should be.
But you give the Evangelical Taliban or the Corporate Socialists in the GOP a pass? The Taliban needs to be gone before more personal freedoms are lost! Freedom of Religion is being threatened by imposing Evangelical Christian teachings on all Texans.
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