Tag Archives: Tarrant County

That’s a lot of ballot challenges

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

First there was this. Tarrant County Republican Chairman Tim Davis wants seven Democratic judicial candidates running in the March 3 primary election removed from the ballot, saying their candidate filings had several errors. Davis formally challenged the ballot applications and … Continue reading →

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A resolution to the Arlington nun mutiny

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Peace at last. More than two years after a scandal erupted between a group of secluded Arlington nuns and a Catholic bishop, the Vatican will allow the Fort Worth diocese to establish a new order of nuns. In a letter to parishioners … Continue reading →

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Salinas, Jefferson Patterson headed to victory

Posted on December 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

As of 10:26 last night, Alejandra Salinas was leading Dwight Boykins in Harris County by about 5,500 votes. You can see the current unofficial results from Harris County here and the final results from Fort Bend County here. Boykins dominated … Continue reading →

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Today is Runoff Day

Posted on December 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: The Harris County Clerk’s Office reminds registered voters that tomorrow is Election Day for the December 13, 2025, Joint Runoff Elections. This is your final opportunity to make your voice heard and help decide the outcomes in … Continue reading →

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How aggressive will Dems be in legislative races?

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is a good start, but I hope they ratchet it up from there. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party’s national arm that targets legislative races, announced Wednesday that it plans to put resources into Texas next year for … Continue reading →

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The Dallas County GOP’s hand-counting debacle

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to be a disaster. Dallas County Republicans say they’re planning to go ahead with hand-counting tens of thousands of Election Day ballots cast in the upcoming March 3 primary after raising more than $400,000 towards the effort. … Continue reading →

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Final December runoff early voting: Is anger the key?

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

An interesting take on the Houston City Council At Large #4 runoff, for which early voting ended yesterday. Salinas ran on a decidedly progressive platform for voters dissatisfied with status quo politics — advocating for legal action to fight against … Continue reading →

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Deadline Day roundup, part 1

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I’m putting Part 1 in the headline because there’s always some delays between filings at county headquarters and what you can see on the SOS candidate filings page. I was waiting on the Jasmine Crockett announcement as I began this, … Continue reading →

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Both Tarrant County redistricting lawsuits have been dismissed

Posted on December 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise. Both lawsuits accusing Tarrant County of racial gerrymandering are now over. A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the new commissioners court precinct map withdrew their lawsuit Monday without a clear explanation. A second lawsuit, brought by … Continue reading →

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November 2025 election results: Local and state

Posted on November 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Quick hits here, as I was up past my bedtime… All 17 constitutional amendments were on the path to passing. Most of them merited a No vote, but once these things get on the ballot they usually pass. Some Democratic … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit upholds Tarrant County redistricting map

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise. A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the county’s redistricting process did not prove the new map is racially discriminatory, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Tarrant County’s Republican commissioners pushed through an unusual mid-decade redistricting … Continue reading →

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McLennan County joins the mid-decade redistricting trend

Posted on October 29, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Three does make a trend. An unusual mid-decade redistricting that McLennan County commissioners quietly approved this past week appears to transfer thousands of Republican voters to the historically Democrat-friendly Precinct 2 of the Commissioners Court. Precinct 2 was drawn in … Continue reading →

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Harris County sues over Solar For All funds

Posted on October 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee filed a lawsuit Monday contesting the Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $400 million in solar energy grants earmarked for Texas-based organizations. The federal funding, part of a $7 billion Biden-era program known as Solar for All, was meant … Continue reading →

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Tarrant County redistricting map gets cleared

Posted on October 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t say I’m surprised. An effort to stop Tarrant County’s new commissioner precincts was shot down Thursday. Multiple groups suing the county over the maps asked Judge Megan Fahey to enact an injunction against the county’s new maps, claiming that the … Continue reading →

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State lawsuit on Tarrant redistricting has its hearing

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what happens. A district court judge is expected to decide whether to grant a temporary injunction against Tarrant County’s new commissioner precincts next week. It’s part of a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Tarrant … Continue reading →

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Powered by People gets another win in court

Posted on September 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is all still temporary and preliminary, but it’s also still good. Every time it looks like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is getting the best of Beto O’Rourke in court, the former El Paso congressman pulls off another victory. … Continue reading →

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One request to halt the Tarrant County mid-decade redistricting is denied

Posted on September 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

There is a second chance still in play. A federal judge based in Tarrant County denied a request to keep the old commissioners precinct map in place until the redistricting lawsuit is finished. Judge Reed O’Conner, who presides over the … Continue reading →

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Paxton throws a fit over being slowed down by Republican judges

Posted on August 31, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

There sadly isn’t a good straight news (non-paywalled) story about this, but Raw Story has a decent summary. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took to X on Wednesday to rage against state appeals court judges after they paused discovery in … Continue reading →

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Beto scores a win against Paxton

Posted on August 21, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. An El Paso judge this week temporarily stopped Attorney General Ken Paxton from prosecuting former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s political group, Powered by People, after Paxton moved to block the organization from financially supporting Texas Democrats who left the … Continue reading →

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Second lawsuit filed against Tarrant County over its mid-decade redistricting

Posted on August 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This one has an interesting twist. The League of Women Voters of Tarrant County and the League of United Latin American Citizens are suing Tarrant County, the county’s commissioners court and County Judge Tim O’Hare over its mid-decade districting. The … Continue reading →

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Everything happens on Tuesday

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, remember when I said yesterday that there was still no quorum and not much had happened? That was then, this is now. The Supreme Court will take its sweet time in deciding on those quo warranto filings to expel … Continue reading →

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Quorum break Day 5 roundup: Help an ideological enemy out?

Posted on August 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hilarious. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows are asking an Illinois court to enforce arrest warrants against Democratic lawmakers who have left the state to delay passage of a GOP-backed congressional map. Burrows issued civil arrest … Continue reading →

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Tarrant County responds to redistricting lawsuit

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. Tarrant County filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by citizens claiming the county engaged in racial gerrymandering when they approved a map with new precinct boundaries on June 3. The motion argues the court … Continue reading →

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There’s a map

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The special session gavels in tomorrow and there’s a new proposed Congressional map, but before we get to that let’s look at the lay of the land going into the session. On Monday, state lawmakers held a call with U.S. … Continue reading →

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Another assault on mifepristone

Posted on July 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Jesus Christ. A North Texas man charged with capital murder this month after he allegedly slipped his girlfriend abortion-inducing medication and caused a miscarriage marks the first time a murder charge has been brought in an abortion-related case in Texas. … Continue reading →

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Tarrant County plaintiffs amend their complaint

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

From the Lone Star Project: Attorneys acting on behalf of an expanded list of citizen plaintiffs have amended claims against MAGA County Judge Tim O’Hare and Tarrant County Texas for the adoption of a mid-decade County Commissioners Precinct map that … Continue reading →

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Measles update: Maybe I should call this the “RFK Rampage update”

Posted on June 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Welp. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday eight new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent vaccine advisory committee, some of whom have been critics of shots — especially during the … Continue reading →

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Measles update: There’s nowhere to go but down

Posted on June 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

What a depressing headline. Amid a widespread decline in childhood measles vaccination rates since before the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States, a study published Monday found that coverage can vary substantially within a state. Looking at county-level data in 33 states, researchers at … Continue reading →

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Tarrant county does mid-decade redistricting and gets sued over it

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

First there was this. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court could get a bigger conservative majority next year under a new map passed Tuesday. Republican Commissioners Manny Ramirez, Matt Krause and County Judge Tim O’Hare voted to adopt the map. Democratic … Continue reading →

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Measles update: Never forget who RFK Jr is

Posted on May 31, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

He’s a liar. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his “Make America Healthy Again” Commission report harnesses “gold-standard” science, citing more than 500 studies and other sources to back up its claims. Those citations, though, are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated … Continue reading →

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The turnout effect in those school board races

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

In yesterday’s post we talked about the possible voucher effect in the recent school board elections, which were by and large a rout of the wingnuts. That same Chron story offered one more explanation at the end. While some of … Continue reading →

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Did vouchers play a role in the May school board elections?

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting hypothesis from the Chron. Several conservative candidates with right-wing support lost their bids for Houston-area school boards Saturday night, a change that some experts said could reflect dissatisfaction with the current state of national politics. Even though school boards … Continue reading →

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More on the May elections

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

In my first post, I promised I’d look for a recap of the school board races from Franklin Strong. Here he is. That was a drubbing. I’ve been covering Texas school board elections for seven cycles, and as I have documented over and over again, book … Continue reading →

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Solar For All grants caught in a trap

Posted on February 18, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

They can’t get out, at least not at this time. More than $400 million in federal funding for Texas-based organizations to implement clean energy programs remains frozen, jeopardizing efforts to expand access to rooftop solar panels and battery storage systems in … Continue reading →

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