More from Election Night

Well, tonight is all but over, but now here are some of the final results, including a special election in the Fort Worth side of DFW:

In HD97, the race to succeed Anna Mowery in Fort Worth:
Democrat Dan Barrett and Republican Mark Shelton will battle for this seat, where Shelton took down five other Republicans compared to Barrett being the lone donkey in the race. Shelton should be assured of Mowery's seat.

Over in Kentucky, the Democrats have picked up the Governor's Mansion. Steve Beshear has defeated incumbent Republican Ernie Fletcher by an 18-point margin, not surprising given Fletcher's controversy, despite Beshear's support of gambling which Fletcher tried to play his cards on. Mississippi's Republican governor, Haley Barbour was also up for re-election, and won his attempt over John Arthur Eaves, a Democrat who used scripture in an attempt to sway voters from Barbour, the only lucky one out of a bunch of rotten apples following Katrina.

At last check, Virginia's state Senate has gone blue, to my understanding. Northern Virginia's growth and a standstill assembly back in the Commonwealth drove the voters towards the Dems. This is only a harbinger of what is to come in 2008, with Mark Warner on the Senate ticket. I am personally going to give Warner my all just like I did for Republican incumbent (and retiring Senator) John Warner, because this is one Democrat that can make a difference across party lines, something we lack for the moment nationally. Too bad I'm not in Virginia, though.

Ohio's 5th congressional district is another battle to watch. The GOP is favored to hold this heavily rock-ribbed district that Paul Gillmor left behind in a fall to his death, but the Republicans are in a fight between the penny-pinching Steve Buehrer and the less fiery, more sentimental Bob Latta, whose father held this seat before Gillmor did. And Latta has a slight lead, for now.

Back to Houston, and reality...

All the school bonds I mentioned in the previous post are passed, meaning new schools and improvements in HISD, Spring Branch, Cy-Fair and of course, Fort Bend. (You can now go to sleep little Sienna Plantation darlings, your high school is coming soon.)

Jolanda Jones and Joe Trevino will now battle in a run-off for Houston City Council At-Large Position 5, Michael Berry's soon-to-be vacated seat. There will also be runoffs in District D (between Wanda Adams and Lawrence Allen) and District E (between Mike Sullivan and Annette Dwyer).

Brazoria County is now a wet county...you can now buy beer and wine in Pearland, Lake Jackson or Alvin without feeling guilty thanks to a nearly 3-to-1 margin. Angleton ISD is upgrading its facilities and so is Friendswood ISD.

Finally, in District I back in Houston, James Rodriguez holds on to win Carol Alvarado's seat.

That should do for now. Good night!

Election Night...2007

Tonight is Election Night, and it's an off-year, odd-year one. On this day, all over Greater Houston, bond proposals are up for debate, council seats are for the taking, and a harbinger of what is to come in 2008 may emerge.

Outside of town, voters in Kentucky and Mississippi went to the polls, as did those in New Jersey and Virginia (for their legislative bodies). Louisiana, of course had its cake already, and the victor (Bobby Jindal) ate it too in celebration of what will hopefully be a new day for our statewide neighbors to the East.

In Houston, Bill White is re-elected in a landslide, and there is going to be a run-off in the race below it appears:

AT-LARGE POS. 5
Jolanda Jones 23.3%
Joe Trevino 18.1%
Jack Christie 15.8%
Tom Nixon 15.4%
Zaf Tahir 11.2%
John Gibbs 7.3%
Marlon Barabin 4.9%
Ray Ramirez 4.0%

HISD's bonds are neck-to-neck. Half are favoring it and half are against it, and right now it's barely passing. The bonds in Cy-Fair are passing right now with 56.9% of the vote and 9% of votes in, though. Bonds are also passing to build 12 new elementary schools in Spring Branch (with 59.3% For and 20% votes in).

Finally, Fort Bend's bond issue is not only passing, but is passing with 64.4 percent of the vote. This is surprising since I expected it to be closer given qualms some of the voters in the East End of the district had. I support the bond, though, because there is a need for new schools and improvements plus the need for a new high school. I expect the new HS #11 to be in Sienna Plantation because that area is not only booming, it was divided in two by the last realignment. Four-fifths of the vote is in, by the way.

HCCS BOARD:
District 1 - Yolanda Navarro Flores (51.1) is slightly ahead of Kevin Hoffman 48.9%
District 7 - Neeta Sane, who made a spirited bid for County Treasurer in FBC last year, is slightly ahead right now with over 40%

Finally, over in The Woodlands, all three propositions there are passing overwhelmingly, putting together the building blocks of self-government there.

I will have another update...soon.

The results east of the Sabine River shall be...FINAL!

In Louisiana, the final boxes are in:

For Governor
Bobby Jindal (R) 54% - Avoids runoff, meaning he will be the new Governor of Louisiana
Walter Boasso (D) 17%
John Georges (Indie) 14%
Foster Campbell (D) 12%

Elsewhere on the ballot,
Mitch Landrieu (D) wins easily with 57%, Sammy Kershaw (R) is second with 30%

Jay Dardenne (R) re-elected Secretary of State easily with 63%

State Attorney General Charles Foti (D) defeated. No surprise given that Katrina got to him.

Finally, change is coming to Louisiana.

This now adds a Republican pickup amongst governors, but that will be short-lived given the events fixing to take place in Kentucky, where Ernie Fletcher (R) is slated for defeat. Also, on Election Day, we will be seeing the outcome in that state and also in New Jersey and Virginia, which could have some ratifications on the state of America next year.

That's all for now. See you soon!

Update in Louisiana Governor's Race...

Okay, it's been ten minutes, but I am posting this simply because these results are as of 9:45 sharp...that's 21:45:00 in military hours.

Bobby Jindal (R) 53%
Walter Boasso (D) 18%
Foster Campbell and John Georges (N) 13% apiece
(I'm not to worry about that hairdresser with a pardon plan for disgraced officials anymore, she's a goner anyway)

Precincts checked: 2,372 of 3,967

A Shift in the Swamp...need I say more?

Tonight, the state of Louisiana is conducting the primary phase of its jungle primary in which all candidates run on the same ballot with the top two regardless of party affiliation. This won't be the case next year with Congress, but statewide races (the Governor's Mansion included) should remain in the jungle.

The Democrats are divided because of the unpopularity of Gov. Kathleen Blanco. The hurricanes that hammered Louisiana in 2005 (Katrina and Rita) put a strain on Louisiana, especially along the stretch from the Sabine River past Acadiana all the way to New Orleans, and the latter as we all know had it especially hard. In fact, the Democrats had such a weak field when Blanco dropped the ball and decided to leave office at the end of this year that they had to get a Republican to run: State Senator Walter Boasso. Boasso is a conservative and pro-business, so if he chooses to stay with the Democrats, this might be a boost to Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy, at least when it comes to pro-business candidates and especially in recruiting Republicans.

On the GOP side, my side of the aisle, the party is united behind Congressman Bobby Jindal, who represents the bulk of the Jeff and the suburban parishes on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. This is the area where my paternal grandmother resides, the district that once belonged to Bob Livingston until he abruptly stepped down and David Vitter until he won John Breaux's Senate seat, and it seems rather odd that most anywhere my paternal, more intelligent, academic and Northern side of the family resides, there is something interesting about their districts. Of course, with mine, we once had Tom DeLay and Ron Paul, but now have a vulnerable Democrat in Nick Lampson. My aunt in PA, if it's Williamsport, has another vulnerable Dem in Chris Carney (who won only because his GOP rival had a run-in with a mistress), and my great-aunt in Atlanta is in Tom Price's district; it used to be Sen. Johnny Isakson in that seat and before that, Newt Gingrich.

Anyway, my hopes are clearly on Jindal, who if he gets 50% tonight is going to be the first House/Senate/Governor post to flip from Democrat to Republican since the thumping of 2006. Louisiana turned him down in 2003, but now they are appearing to finally be waking up.

In another race, the Lieutenant Governor, Mitch Landrieu (Sen. Mary Landrieu's brother who once took a stab at Ray Nagin until his "Chocolate City" army bused in from Houston and shot him down), is himself facing a fight against country singer Sammy Kershaw...But the question is, will that race last into another month? Apparently not, Landrieu's ahead with 52%, two above the boiling point.

But in the real race...the Governor's race to my East:

As of 9:34 PM

Bobby Jindal (R) 51%
Walter Boasso (D) 19%
Foster Campbell (D) 14% (Louisiana's Public Service Commissioner)
John Georges (Indie) 13% (New Orleans gaming and grocery magnate)
Mary Volentine Smith (D) 1% (retired hairdresser whose only purpose for running supposedly is to release a disgraced former governor)

There will be more updates when the time rolls around. At least one, maybe a deuce.