Texas State Sen. Mario Gallegos’ untimely passing on October 16 has triggered the start of at least five distinct potential political story lines. All five are interrelated to varying degrees and are relevant for Houston-area political dynamics and/or legislative politics in Austin in 2013 and beyond. Continue Reading
Continued economic growth, no net tax increases and a projected revenue surplus for the current fiscal year were some of the predictions for Texas made by participants at the Oct. 3 “Perspectives on the Texas Legislature: 2013 Session” conference at the Baker Institute.
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With a little more than a month to go until the Nov. 6 elections, legislators, budget professionals, education and business leaders will share their perspectives on the 2013 Texas legislature at an Oct. 3 conference at the Baker Institute.
The public is invited to attend “Perspectives on the Texas Legislature: 2013 Session,” but an RSVP is required.
The primary to select the Republican Party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate this year will go down in the record books as the most expensive party primary in Texas history. Through July 11 — that is, 20 days prior to election day — the GOP candidates had already spent $37 million dollars. Particularly given the considerable amount of television advertising time purchased by the campaigns of David Dewhurst (especially) and Ted Cruz in the final weeks of the campaign, it goes without question that the combined expenditures by the GOP candidates’ respective campaigns during the 2012 primary electoral cycle will surpass $45 million, and quite possibly $50 million, by the time the contest is finally wrapped up. Continue Reading
Early voting in the Republican and Democratic Party primary runoffs begins on Monday, July 23, and ends on Friday, July 27. As the Texas secretary of state reports in-person early voting and mail-in absentee ballot totals for the 15 most populous counties next week, the data in the figure at left will provide a rough guide to the evolution of early voting turnout in the GOP runoff primary compared to the first round of the primary held in May. They also will supply a tool with which to project the overall level of voter participation in the runoff.
The national convention for the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, is underway in Houston this week. Mark Jones, Baker Institute fellow in political science, recently talked to KUHF Houston public radio about what GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney… Continue Reading
With May 29 now in the rearview mirror, here I offer a few selected observations on the results of Tuesday’s Democratic and Republican primaries. Continue Reading