Primary Ballot Picks

The Texas Primary is March 5, with early voting starting this coming Tuesday, February 20. I’m finding this primary season less contentious, or maybe simply with fewer contested races, than in past primary seasons. So there are fewer races to focus on.

I’m going to go through my Republican sample ballot below, and share my views, in hopes of helping to inform other voters, starting at the top of the ballot, the US and statewide races, on down to local, and finally the propositions.

I look back on this blog, started in 2011, and feel pretty solid about what I’ve said. The few places I look back and feel like maybe I was wrong had to do with candidates. I have always been cautious about supporting candidates. It’s easy to trust God; it’s not so easy to trust people. But you do have to decide who is the best candidate at the time, based on the information available to you, added to your own feelings. Maybe even in the times I look back with disappointment on past candidate choices, those might have been the best at the time. Maybe they were worth trusting—until they made trust-losing decisions. This is to say, add my comments to what you already know, and make the best, most informed decisions you can.

I use a standard in trying to decide on candidates. I write this in more detail here. I don’t always get a chance to go through these questions with a candidate—in fact, I rarely do. But I try to discern what their answers might be from whatever else I can learn about them, from their campaign literature, sometimes candidate forums, sometimes from friends and other sources I trust. In the past, I’ve even had grids showing at a glance what various sources choose. I won’t this time, simply because there aren’t as many controversial decisions. Where I can, I’ll share the endorsements of other sources.

I suggest iVoter Guide. Put in your address and get the races on your ballot. If you click on “View Candidate Profile,” you’ll get more info, including the candidate’s responses to a questionnaire related to conservative issues.

Also, True Texas Project offers their choices for about 40 counties, here, and a one-page sheet for statewide races, here. My choices align pretty closely with theirs.

For the most part, I won’t be covering races with no primary challenger, but I will be voting for those candidates. The races I’m paying the most attention to are Harris County Sheriff, House District 138, and Harris County Republican Party Chair. Plus, it turns out there’s some info worth discussing related to three Criminal Court of Appeals races.

This piece is long, so use it as a resource and scroll to the races you’re trying to learn about. I’ve highlighted my choices. And my sample ballot is available on my precinct chair campaign website; scroll down to see it.

 

US RACES

PRESIDENT

This is often the most contented and important race on the primary ballot. Those tend to be open years, when the other party has many candidates. We have many candidates on the ballot this year too, but it’s more like a second-term presidency year. Donald Trump is far and away the favored candidate. As far as I can tell, every other candidate except Nikki Haley has dropped out, so a vote for those candidates will be wasted. There are two on this list—Ryan L. Binkley and David Stuckenberg—are totally unfamiliar to me. I didn’t watch the debates, although I paid attention to some follow-ups to them. But Trump wasn’t there, so what was the point? I did watch his interview with Tucker Carlson, which coincided with a debate and received a much higher viewership.

from Donald Trump campaign website

Some of these people I have liked, in the past or even still. I liked Nikki Haley as ambassador to the UN. But what I really wanted was for us to withdraw from the UN. Since then, she seems to me to be a RINO who never finds a war she doesn’t want to fund—at our expense. In other words, even if Trump were not in the picture, I would not consider her.

I think Ron DeSantis has been a good governor in Florida. He didn’t run a good presidential campaign. I think we are all better served with him continuing as governor. He seemed to grasp that too, after the Iowa Primary, which left him in a distant second place to Trump.

To make this short: I’m voting for Donald Trump for President. And the more the Democrat machine attacks him with lawfare, the more determined I am to support him.

US SENATOR from TEXAS

I was surprised to see Ted Cruz has two challengers, Holland “Redd” Gibson and R E (Rufus) Lopez. I haven’t heard of either of them. I’m a precinct chair, so my contact info is easily available to any candidate, and I wasn’t even aware of them. Nor do I recognize their names, at all, from the decades I have participated in Republican politics in Texas.

Ted Cruz has remained strong and rational. I enjoy his podcast, Verdict, which often offers useful inside information. No need for more discussion here. I’m voting for Ted Cruz for Senator.

US REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 38

Wesley Hunt has no challenger this year. This is the end of his first term—the first term in the existence of CD 38, which was created after the 2020 census. I had supported a close friend and strong conservative in the primary two years ago. Wesley Hunt was always a no-show at any of the several forums where I expected to hear from him. I had met him years before, running for a different position, and I didn’t think he was the best choice then either. He won the primary but lost that election. He has also been closely aligned with Dan Crenshaw—both military guys. I supported Dan Crenshaw in 2016, but he has been one of my candidate disappointments. All that said, Hunt hasn’t been a disappointment. His votes are typically conservative. He has spoken up on a few key issues and appears to represent us well. My expectations were low, but he has surprised me and some friends with how well he’s doing. There’s no choice here, but I’m glad to vote for Wesley Hunt.

US REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 7, and Other Congressional Districts

This is a nearby district, challenging a Democrat incumbent, Lizzie Fletcher. Other than a candidate forum this past Tuesday (I didn’t attend; I was out block walking), I haven’t really noticed the race. But Ballotpedia offers links to the four Republican candidates:

Tina Blum Cohen 

Carolyn B. Bryant 

Caroline Kane 

Kenneth Omoruyi 

You can get more information, and better detail, from iVoterGuide. True Texas Project has endorsed Caroline Kane.

 

TEXAS STATEWIDE RACES

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER

This is a strangely named position in Texas. It has mainly to do with Oil & Gas. There are three RR Commissioners, who come up on the ballot in different years. The incumbent on this year’s ballot is Christi Craddick. I’m pleased with her work. iVoter Guide rates her as next to highest level conservative. The one challenger who provided information, James Matlock, is less conservative. True Texas Project has unanimously endorsed Christi Craddick. I’m voting for Christi Craddick.

JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT, PLACE 4

John Devine and Brian Walker are the two candidates. True Texas Project has unanimously endorsed John Devine. Texas Home School Coalition also endorses him. He was first elected to this position in 2012 and continues to be a solid member of the court. His campaign site is here. I am voting for John Devine.

PRESIDING JUDGE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

The two candidates are David J. Schenck and Sharon Keller. Keller is the incumbent of 21 years. Keller will reach age 75 during the upcoming term and would be replaced at that time by a governor appointee. I voted for her in the past. However, this year there is strong support among my conservative friends for David Schenck.

It appears the deciding factor was the Texas v. Stephens case, in which there was election fraud, the county DA declined to prosecute, and Attorney General Paxton prosecuted in an adjacent county. The Court of Criminal Appeals voted 8-1 that he couldn’t do that, based on Article II of the Texas Constitution, which says no member of the state’s executive, legislative, or judicial branches of government “shall exercise any power properly attached to either of the others, except in the instances herein expressly permitted.” Paxton disagrees with the ruling, saying it gives power over election fraud cases to Soros-funded DAs, and it will be devastating for Texas elections in the future. [You can read the entire case decision here; Judge Yeary’s dissent begins on p. 22.] 

I tend to agree with Paxton on this one—and with Yeary’s dissent (as far as a lay reader can understand it). It seems to me, Paxton, while technically an elected official under the executive branch, is akin to the DOJ in the federal government. It would be like saying the DOJ has no power to prosecute, because that’s a judicial function, even though prosecuting crimes against federal law is the express purpose of the position. AG Paxton is called on to represent Texas in the law, including to prosecute cases against Texas law, but these judges are saying, “You can’t do it without the permission of the local officials complicit in the crime.” Texas Scorecard points out, “The ruling upended more than seven decades of precedent and has been criticized as activism disguised as originalism.” This affects Harris County, where we have a DA that refuses to prosecute election fraud, or illegal immigration, and sometimes violent crime. Democrats think Kim Ogg isn’t extreme enough for them, so she’s being challenged in the Democrat primary by someone even much worse.

The three incumbent Criminal Court of Appeals judges targeted for replacement
in the Republican Primary, from left, Presiding Judge Sharon Keller,
Judge Michelle Slaughter, and Judge Barbara Hervey, image from here.

Some are calling it political, but Paxton has targeted specifically Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, Judge Michelle Slaughter, and Judge Barbara Hervey, who are the three Criminal Court of Appeals justices thwarting him who are up for re-election this year. Read more here.

True Texas Project is unanimously supporting Schenck. iVoter Guide doesn’t include judicial races. For information about any of the statewide or appeals district races, Texas Judges provides basic information here. Schenck’s campaign website is here. I am voting for David Schenck.

JUDGE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS, PLACE 7

The two candidates are Gina Parker and Barbara Parker Hervey. Hervey is the incumbent. For the same reasons as above, conservatives are supporting the challenger. Hervey also will reach age 75 during the upcoming term and would be replaced by a governor appointee. Gina Parker has the unanimous endorsement of True Texas Project. Her campaign website is here. I am voting for Gina Parker.

JUDGE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS, PLACE 8

The two candidates are incumbent Michelle Slaughter and Lee Finley. This is the same issue as those two criminal court races above, but there is some disagreement on this one, I’m not sure why. When True Texas Project first came out with their recommendations, they had selected Slaughter. Their list was used by those handling my campaign (for precinct chair) website; at that point I hadn’t yet done my deep study, and I couldn’t see anything to disagree with, so I went with their picks. However, TTP has since changed to endorse Lee Finley, and I have become aware of the issues with these judges. My friend who did the sample ballot on my website has already changed his sample ballot to choose Finley. For consistency with the other two criminal appeals races, that makes sense. However, my SREC (State Republican Executive Committee) representative is still going with Slaughter. So is Texas Right to Life (they endorse challengers Schenck and Parker, however, in the other two races).

Slaughter has held the office since 2018, so this completes her first term. Lee Finley is a lawyer in Collin County (Ken Paxton’s home county), and a former Marine (1990-1994). The link to Finley’s campaign here. His Facebook page is also active.  He gives a good brief explanation of the ramifications of the bad ruling in Texas v. Stephens, which go far beyond election fraud, in this short video from an event. 

While I would have liked meeting any/all of the three challenger candidates for Criminal Court of Appeals, I’m willing to go with what I’ve seen. I’m voting for Lee Finley in this race.

From left, David Schenck, Gina Parker, and Lee Finley,
candidates for Criminal Court of Appeals,
photo from Finley's Facebook

 

STATE DISTRICT RACES

STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 7

Paul Bettencourt is the incumbent. He has no primary challenger, which is as it should be in his case. We continue to rely on him to help us in our cause for good limited government. I’m happy to vote for Paul Bettencourt.

 

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 138

Lacey Hull is the two-term incumbent. Jared Woodfill is the challenger. I have good friends championing both. I supported Lacey Hull in her first election. I didn’t in her primary two years ago. She had moral issues in her personal life that conflicted with who she represented herself to be. She sides with Dade Phelan way too often. And yet, she is part of the Freedom Caucus and can generally be counted on for a conservative vote. She doesn’t tend to sign on to anything as a co-author, to help move important bills along. This has brought her an F rating from Texas Right to Life and a D rating from Texas Values Action PAC, noting that she supports casino gambling, which typically leads to $2 spent on social costs for every $1 of revenue brought to the state. (Sands Casino donated $27,000 to her campaign.)

That said, even after I didn’t endorse her two years ago, she has been friendly to me and willing to meet with me. The most troubling thing this past session was her vote to impeach AG Paxton, on 48 hours notice, with no direct testimony or evidence presented, and no chance for defense. The ensuing Senate impeachment hearing, in which Paxton was acquitted and we all saw that the evidence was innuendo and hearsay, was a waste of time and taxpayer money that could have been avoided by more House members doing their due diligence.

This is to say, I was willing to look at a primary challenger. Jared Woodfill was the Harris County Republican Chair when I was signing up to be a precinct chair. He lost his election as Chair at the same primary where I was elected precinct chair. I didn’t see any particular problems with him then. I tend to be amazed that there are people who would take on what is essentially a full-time unpaid volunteer position. Since then, I continue to see his name involved in lawsuits, particularly related to moral cases. He has close ties with Dr. Steve Hotze. I get Hotze’s newsletter. He often has good, conservative messaging. However, he puts out his slate of electors—as I do, although his has much greater reach—and his choices are often at odds with mine, particularly when I’m looking for a strong grassroots constitutional conservative, and he goes with the long-time party insider or known Rino. People say his slate is pay-to-play. In other words, the candidate makes a donation or buys an ad, or whatever the requirement, and then they can get an endorsement. I don’t know if that’s true; I just notice the difference of opinion.

Jared Woodfill presents himself as a solid Christian conservative. He probably has a record long enough to verify that, although not as a legislator. He is saying he wants to replace Dade Phelan as House Leader. We all want to replace Phelan—but we don’t all mean we want to be the replacement, especially immediately upon being elected. That gives me pause.

I have been undecided far longer than I ought to be in this important race. I have had opportunities to be campaigned to up close and personal, as a precinct chair, but I didn’t go to the events, which would have pushed me to commit and endorse. What I wanted was an open forum, with questions from the audience. I had looked forward to a candidate forum at the Cypress Texas Tea Party last month, but a late change in date because of a scheduling problem with the venue led to both of them declining.

My SREC committeeman supports Lacey Hull. I have gone with him to her office. She has been accommodating, as I said. One of my block walking friends in my precinct strongly supports her. She shared with me a negative piece of mail she got from Coalition for Good Government about Woodfill. They mention a child sex abuse case involving a Southern Baptist leader and Woodfill law partner, with stories dating April 2018 (Houston Chronicle), March 2023 (Texas Tribune), and January 2024 (Click2Houston). The negative add implies Woodfill knew and failed to report, and that he has had shady business dealings and is surrounded by fake conservatives.

I simply don’t know how to tell what is true. I suspect we will get some conservative work from either of them, along with some disappointments. While I am not endorsing in this campaign, at this point I am leaning toward Lacey Hull, where I kind of know what to expect.

 

JUSTICE, 14^TH COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT, PLACE 3

The candidates are Steve Rogers and Tonya McLaughlin. I heard Rogers speak at our Cypress Texas Tea Party meeting in January. (Recording is here.) 

There’s a chart of basic information on candidates in this race done by Texas Judges here. 

I'm voting for Steve Rogers in this race.

 

HARRIS COUNTY RACES

HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF

The four candidates, as listed on the ballot, are Mike Knox, Joe Danna, Paul Day, and Glenn Cowan. I’ve been aware of Mike Knox, former City Councilman, and Joe Danna, who has been running essentially since the end of the last campaign, for a long time. I’m less familiar with Paul Day. Glenn Cowan got on my radar a few months ago. He spoke briefly at our Cypress Texas Tea Party. And I’ve heard him and run into him a time or two since. He’s hard to miss; he’s 6’10” tall. My husband is 6’6”, so it takes something well beyond that to make me think, “Wow! That guy is tall!” Such is the case with Cowan. I understand he is also the father of triplets. That could make for some fun family basketball.

Glenn Cowan, candidate for Harris County Sheriff,
screenshot from here

I don’t have anything against any of the candidates, but I had been leaning toward Cowan for a while. He seems very competent in the particular skills needed for the job. And he’s a strong constitutional conservative. But I wanted to know more, so I was pleased that Cypress Texas Tea Party had a candidate forum for all four this past Wednesday. Each candidate got around 15 minutes, to introduce themselves and to take some Q&A. I was able to record the meeting. You might find these useful, in the order that they spoke:

·        Glenn Cowan 

·        Paul Day 

·        Mike Knox 

·        Joe Danna 

I thought Cowan did well, although he doesn’t appear as impressive here as I’ve seen before. Still, it was a good showing. Mike Knox probably looks the part of a Texas sheriff, with a cowboy hat, handlebar mustache, and just enough Texas accent. His most recent experience has been in city government, and it has been a while since he was in law enforcement. He also lacks the hostage negotiator experience that Cowan has. But with name recognition, he’s a formidable opponent.

Paul Day is older and has hostage negotiator experience similar to Cowan. He started out life as a Democrat and now calls himself a constitutional conservative. I asked for his conversion story in that context; he misunderstood and answered about his conversion for regular Lutheran in a household that didn’t give him all the background he needed to realizing abortion was wrong and some other things, and he became born again. That was not the conversion story I had asked for. It’s easy to misunderstand things when you’re in front of a crowd, but he didn’t win any points from me. Joe Danna was OK.

I would be willing to support any of these candidates in a general election. They would all be better than the Democrat incumbent, who is allowing rampant crime. (Houston is now the number 1 hub for human sex trafficking in the nation, not a distinction this conservative Christian state and community deserves.) My guess is the top vote getters will be Cowan and Knox. All the conservative sources seem to be aligning behind Cowan, probably for the reasons I am. We think he has the right stuff. I am voting for Glenn Cowan.

 

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PRECINCT 5, PLACE 1

The two candidates are James Lombardino and Arlene Hecht. This JP district is the area south of Hwy 290 and west of the 610 Loop. Lombardino is an experienced judge (8 years as a district court judge), one of those good Republicans swept out in the 2018 election, which we’ve been struggling to recover from ever since. He spoke at our Tea Party meeting in January, not on the agenda but invited up to say something briefly. He has occasionally attended over the years, not just when campaigning. Video here.

Hecht is a defense attorney. She ran for a district judge position in 2020 but didn’t win. While she also claims she is running for the JP position to clear the backlog, she doesn’t have the track record as a judge running a docket and lowering the backlog, which Lombardino has. There’s a Houston Chronicle story here. JP Precinct 5 has a large number of eviction cases, exacerbated by the incumbent’s mishandling of 2020 COVID funds and rules. And it also has a high number of debt default cases. While I have nothing against Hecht, she is less experienced, so I’m going with a known quantity. I’m voting for James Lombardino in this race.

 

HARRIS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR

The two candidates are incumbent Cindy Siegel and challenger Bobby Orr. Many of us are wondering why a disrupter would come in, in a presidential election year, to tear down and build up. Many of us wondered that the last time it happened, when Paul Simpson was ousted. People started talking about changing the rules so that such elections would happen in the HCRP Executive Committee meetings where precinct chairs are comprise the committee, who are the people working with the Chair, rather than tossing it out there to the primary voters, who have much less contact with the chair. It caused a mess last time, and a resignation, with lack of funds and organization just weeks before the November election. People don’t want that to happen again. What’s more, people are satisfied with the way Cindy runs things.

HCRP Chair Cindy Siegel (on the right) gives her report at the
HCRP Executive Committee Meeting, January 29, 2024.

Bobby Orr came to our Tea Party in January. My phone gave up during his talk; I got most of it, but in two parts, but it didn’t seem worth posting. My impression was that what he was proposing to do was exactly what we already did to flip our school board: block walk and campaign like crazy to known Republican voters. Orr said that was the model he wanted to use for all of Harris County. What he fails to see is that we did this with Cindy Siegel as chair. We didn’t need new leadership to do it. And we didn’t need Bobby Orr either.

He pretty much torpedoed his campaign by being caught on a recording saying that he hated the grassroots and didn’t want to work with an of us crazy people. So that means, when he says he’s going to inspire the whole county to do what we did in CFISD (Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District), he’s lying to our faces.

The final nail was at the January 29 HCRP Executive Committee meeting. There was a resolution gaining signatures ahead of the meeting in an attempt to censure Cindy Siegel. There was a list of 8 or so items they were accusing her of—all of which seemed to me either lies or spin. Siegel started the meeting by going through that list, item-by-item, with charts and receipts, defending her actions, simply as part of her Chair's report. It was very satisfying when, after other business, someone called for the meeting to adjourn before that resolution could even be brought forward. From my viewpoint, that was effective leadership on Cindy Siegel’s part.

Some of the accusations relate to a disagreement between Siegel and Orr about fighting voter fraud. There are multiple cases (which I’ve written about). You can’t get good candidates, if they know they can’t win, because their best efforts will be stolen from them and the party turns a blind eye. But the accusation that funds were used that could have gone to campaigning is also false. Funding to cover the lawsuits was a grant/donation earmarked for that purpose, so the campaign funds were not touched.

Let’s hope the voting public goes with the incumbent. We need her to stay, especially this year. I am glad to be voting for Cindy Siegel.

 

PRECINCT CHAIR 622

I’m the last race on the ballot. I think I’ve been a hardworking, effective precinct chair. Being a precinct chair means taking time to build relationships, both in the precinct and with the rest of the grassroots and elected officials. I’ve been doing that for 10 years. You can learn more at my campaign website. Those of you in my precinct, I hope providing information like this is useful to you. Vote for Linda Nuttall.

Linda Nuttall. That's me, from my
precinct chair campaign bio

 

BALLOT PROPOSITIONS

photo of page in the Link Letter,
January 2024, Volume 32, #1

Ballot propositions on a primary ballot are different from those on a November ballot following a legislative session. The November ones come out of the legislature, bringing possible state constitutional amendments before the people. The starting assumption on those is to vote NO unless you’re convinced it would be an improvement to have that written into our state constitution as law.

A primary ballot proposition is non-binding. It is a way for the grassroots of the party to tell the legislature what is important to us. This is in addition to the State Platform and the Legislative Priorities, both of which come out of committees at the State Convention. The list is approved by the SREC (State Republican Party Executive Committee), the two representatives from each senatorial district in the state. That does not mean these are approved unanimously. While the assumption is a YES vote unless you’re convinced it would be wrong, the SREC can have individually diverse opinions. My SREC committeeman, Tom Nobis, suggests voting no on Proposition 1 and Proposition 7. I didn’t get his reasoning from him.

Brandon Waltens of Texas Scorecard discusses the 13 proposition here. 

Proposition 1 would eliminate all property taxes without increasing Texans’ overall tax burden. That was in the 2022 State Platform; plank 90 calls for eliminating property tax, and 91 offers an incremental way to reach that goal. People making the argument point out many elderly people who have had to sell their homes, which were paid for, because they couldn’t afford the property tax. This isn’t hypothetical; it happens to people in our neighborhoods. This denies actual property ownership and looks more like paying rent to the government, which will evict you if you don’t pay up. There may be some concern about the word “all.” But this is just to get the attention of the legislature, not to write the law itself. If there needs to be some nuance, that could be debated on any specific bill.

Proposition 7 is about access to gold and silver for use as legal tender. Plank 46, Resistance to the Great Reset, has a bullet point related to this. So, again, there’s widespread approval among conservatives for this concept. So I don’t know the arguments against it.

I haven’t done a deep dive on the Propositions yet. My plan is to vote YES on all propositions, unless I learn something between now and voting day.

It’s important to vote. It’s even more important to be an informed voter. I hope this has been helpful.

Primary Recommendations, Part I

The primary election is underway. Here in Texas, while voting day comes up Tuesday, March 1^st, early voting began Tuesday and runs through February 26^th. So I’m getting ready to vote next week, and sharing my decisions.

I expect we’ll do this in two posts: one for national, Texas, and Harris County races, and another for Texas and county judicial races.

I’ve gathered pamphlets, online info, endorsement lists from friends and groups, and I’m using a handy matrix of endorsements put together by Mark Ramsey, State Republican Executive Committeeman for Senate District 7 (my district), which he has been updating daily. 

From Mark Ramsey's Facebook Page 2-18-2016

President

I won’t spend a lot of time here, because I’ve written my opinion pretty clearly. [Read here, here, and here.] I endorse Ted Cruz. If I can’t have my way, I could settle for Marco Rubio. There were others in the race I could have settled for, but I don’t think Jeb Bush or John Kasich qualify. I generally like Ben Carson as a citizen, but I don’t think he has what it takes to be president. He is, however, better than many alternatives.

I won’t vote for Donald Trump—even if he were to become the nominee. I will not vote for the ruination of my country and the disposal of our beloved Constitution. Every day his behavior convinces me more thoroughly that he would be disastrous with power at his disposal.

Neither Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton is even conceivable as a president of this country. They would also be permanently disastrous to our country. They are so bad that people would be tempted to vote for whoever is running against them. But I can’t see that Trump would prevent the damage they would do; he might even do damage they haven’t thought of.

It would be awkward (understatement) to be a Republican Precinct Chair who refuses to vote for the nominee; I hope the party does not put me in that situation. I trust Ted Cruz will win handily in Texas, which is a winner-take-all-delegates state. We’re doing our part. But we depend on voters in other states to be wise as well.

US Representatives

My representative, Ted Poe, District 2, is unopposed. I support him.

I’ve been interested in a couple of nearby races. John Culberson, District 7, used to be my representative, until redistricting a few years ago. He hasn’t faced a primary in a while. This year he has two opponents: Maria Espinoza and James Lloyd. I’ve met them both at local Tea Party meetings. Both are impressive.

I was surprised at the urgency to run against Culberson, because he seemed conservative to me when I voted for him. I asked James Lloyd about that: Was I wrong about him? Has he changed? Or has our idea of what is conservative changed? He said he thought Culberson had changed. He had been conservative in the beginning. But he hasn’t faced opposition in a while. And sometimes, when you hear from business lobbyists all the time, and no one is paying attention, it gets easy to just give in.

I haven’t followed closely enough to give specifics on Culberson complaints, but his conservative ratings have dropped of late. When I heard from Lloyd, I was impressed with his experience at a young age. He was valedictorian at Rice Law School—and came out still conservative. Like Ted Cruz at Harvard. He also has experience in Washington working against terrorism. He’s young, but very impressive. I’d be happy to vote for him.

Looking at endorsements from various groups, Lloyd is endorsed by The Conservative View, Terry Lowry’s The Link Letter, Mark Ramsay SREC SD 7 Committeeman, and Gary Pollard’s Texas Conservative Review. Of those, Ramsey has the most sway with me. Espinoza doesn’t receive any of these club/group endorsement.

I think Culberson will probably win; incumbency carries a lot of weight. But the challenges might wake him to the need to respond to his conservative constituency.

When our elected officials remember that conservative principles lead to freedom, prosperity, and civilization, we back them up.

In the meantime, I hope we see more of Maria Espinoza and James Lloyd in the future.

Another contested race is Kevin Brady, District 8. I knew someone who ran against him in the primary a few years ago. People in his districts have similar feelings as Culberson’s constituents. He used to be conservative; what happened? His opponent is Steve Toth, who gets endorsements from Mark Ramsey, Terry Lowry The Link Letter, and Texas Patriots PAC. In the meantime, Brady has been hitting the airwaves with reminders of every conservative thing he’s ever done—same with Culberson. Maybe this challenge will help him to actually be more conservative.

Texas Representative

My representative, Duane Bohac, House District 138, is running unopposed. I have found him responsive and reliably conservative so far.

There are a couple of nearby races. The one getting the most attention is House District 150. Debbie Riddle has represented that district for fourteen years now. We cheered her on as a conservative. But something has turned lately. She isn’t my rep, so I haven’t looked too hard at the specifics, but the main concerns are that she failed to vote for preventing Sharia law from having a place in Texas courts, and she supports House Speaker Joe Strauss, whom we all know is conservative only when forced. Also, some think she worked against Right to Life issues.

There are a total of four on the ballot, but the main challenger is Valoree Swanson, who recently served as SREC SD 7 Committeewoman, and has worked for conservative causes for a long time. She gets endorsements from Steve Hotze’s Conservative Republicans of Harris County, The Conservative View, CCHC PAC [Conservative Coalition of Harris County—has weight with me because I know several of them from my tea party; this is an unpaid group of volunteers who research and interview candidates and express their opinions by secret ballot], Kingwood Tea Party, Mark Ramsey, Texas Right to Life, Empower Texans, Texas Patriots PAC, and Conservative Club of Houston. Debbie Riddle gets Pollard’s Conservative Review and Houston Realty Business Coalition.

It’s hard to take out an incumbent, but I think Valoree Swanson has a good chance of winning this one. I would vote for her, if I were in her district.

House District 128 is open, with the retirement of Allen Fletcher. Tom Oliverson and Kay Smith are running. Oliverson gets endorsements across the board on my list of groups. CCHC gives him a 67% support, which is less than an endorsement. Kay Smith gets 33%. She is a longtime active member of our local Tea Party, former member of the county school board, and energetic activist. I don’t know Oliverson, so I was surprised at how that race is going. I suggest looking at both of them and making an informed decision: Oliverson’s website. Smith’s website.

Texas Railroad Commissioner

The Texas Railroad Commission is a three-person regulatory committee over energy, which in Texas is mainly oil and gas. There is one place on the ballot this year, with seven Republicans running (with some added confusion, because Lance Christian and Wayne Christian have the same last name).

This full list, in alphabetical order is: Lance Christian, Wayne Christian, Gary Gates, Doug Jeffrey, Weston Martinez, John Greytok, and Ron Hale.

Ron Hale attended our tea party back in November, which seems forever ago. My notes aren’t very revealing. Two years ago I was leaning toward Wayne Christian for Railroad Commissioner, and I know people who still support him. But the majority of recommendations I typically turn to support Weston Martinez. I’ve looked at his website, and he seems easy to support. The CCHC PAC supports Martinez with 55%, not an endorsement, and give Wayne Christian 36%. Another 9% go to John Greytok. The magazine slates—Hotze’s Conservative Republicans of HC, Terry Lowry’s The Link Letter, and Polland’s Conservative Review all support Gary Gates, but that doesn’t persuade me without anyone I personally know supporting him.

At this point I’m leaning toward Weston Martinez, subject to more information by the time I vote next week.

Harris County Sheriff

Harris County, where Houston is located, is one of the largest law enforcement jurisdictions in the country—the third largest sheriff’s office. The county is almost exactly 50% Democrat, 50% Republican. The previous sheriff, Adrian Garcia, resigned in 2015 to run for mayor (he did not win). The County Commissioners appointed Ron Hickman, who had been Precinct 4 Constable prior to the appointment. He is now running, and his main opponent is Carl Pittman, who ran for sheriff in 2012.

Both talked at a recent Cypress Tea Party meeting. Carl Pittman went first. I liked him last time he ran, but he wasn’t my final pick (my pick didn’t win in November either). He has been here, supporting tea party ideas, with his big smile and healthy handshake. I wanted to be able to vote for him this time. He talked about the need for better technology, and better ways for law enforcement to work across jurisdictions (the five constable precincts, and various incorporated cities). He seemed convincing.

Then Ron Hickman spoke. He’s been working in the job for about nine months already. He was appointed, so we don’t have to think of that as an incumbent position. But he has a pretty long record of incorporating technology. As Precinct 4 Constable, he instituted laptops in patrol cars, and paperless warrants. It looks like he’s already doing the things that Pittman says need to be done.

Pittman is getting big help from Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Sheriff Richard Mack, both big names, but both from somewhere else. There are accusations going both ways in this campaign. I don’t like to see that, and I pretty much tune it out. It’s unpleasantness that I hope will stop filling my email inbox very soon.

I’m still trying to get an inside view from a local sheriff’s deputy. But, looking at the various groups, but everyone across the board has endorsed Ron Hickman, including 100% endorsement from CCHC, and also Mark Ramsey. I have individual friends going with Carl Pittman. Either one I believe would be better than their predecessor, Adrian Garcia. But right now I’m leaning toward Ron Hickman.

Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector

Mike Sullivan is the incumbent. Don Sumners [I didn’t find a website for his campaign] was the assessor before losing to Sullivan several years ago. Don Sumners claims to be a watchdog for the taxpayer. But Paul Bettencourt, now our Texas Senator for District 7, who was truly a watchdog for the taxpayer when he held the Tax Asssessor position, and was all about paying less and paying with ease, is supporting Mike Sullivan. In fact, Sullivan is getting endorsements across the board. The CCHC PAC is supporting him with only 60%, which isn’t quite an endorsement. Still, if all of these people are satisfied, I’m not sure I can see a good enough reason to replace him with a 76-year-old who held the job previously. So, I’m going with Mike Sullivan.

Harris County Republican Chair

We elected Paul Simpson just two years ago. He’s done a lot to better communications, technology, and outreach. He has two challengers, but I’m willing to let him keep working.

We’ll look at Texas Supreme Court and Appeals Court in the next post, along with county judicial races, and anything else we haven't yet covered.

Texas Runoff Races

I gave my recommendation for Texas’s US Senate race last Wednesday (I’m going for Ted Cruz). But I was putting off the rest of the ballot until after Saturday’s tea party meeting, where we had one last chance to hear from candidates.

So, this is last minute, with election day tomorrow, but some of these races will be deciding the new occupant of the job, where there is no creditable democrat opposition. So your vote in this runoff is not only important, it will count for more than usual, because so few people go to vote in a runoff election.

Note: There are fewer voting locations open, because a runoff has fewer voters, so locations have combined. If you go to your regular voting day precinct voting location, it might not be there. So look up ahead of time where to go: harrisvotes.com.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Races

The RR Commissioner is not about railroads; it is about oil and gas and resource management. You want someone in this job that understands how Texas’s economy is tied to energy, gas, and use of natural resources. Texas is set up with three statewide commissioners; they are 6-year terms coming up for election in alternating years. However, because one of  the commissioners stepped down with an unexpired term, there’s more than one position on the ballot.

Michael Williams had stepped down to run for a congressional seat (after serving as RR Commissioner for more than one term), and Governor Perry appointed Barry Smitherman to fill that slot; he is now on the ballot for that unexpired term. He didn’t receive 50% of the vote in the primary, so is now facing opponent Greg Parker. This is one of those cases where I recognize I am influenced by meeting people in person. I voted for Smitherman in the primary, based only on what I found online. He was the appointed incumbent, and I couldn’t see that the position was causing any particular issues.

But then Greg Parker came to speak. This was the second time he came to speak to our group, but I’d missed the first one earlier in the spring. But the others assure me he was equally impressive both times. He’s a relatively young, very smart, very funny black guy. (Note: I mean no offense by using the term black to apply to race; African-American seems inaccurate, since Charlize Theron is an actual African-American, and to be accurate we’d need to say “descended from an African race with greater melanin concentration,” which would be unwieldy. Incidentally, we’ve had a surprising number of blacks, Hispanics, and even Vietnamese candidates speak at our meetings, and unlike the stories you get from media, their ideology as conservatives makes them completely welcome among us, and we hope they are the vanguard of many among various minorities that join us because we have so much in common.)

Greg Parker has a PhD in public policy and studied economics at MIT. As he said, “I’ve been trained by all the liberals, and I’m still conservative.” He wrote a book meant to reveal the myth of global warning (Global Warming…Really?—which I have not yet gotten hold of, but I’m interested after hearing him). This seems to be a specific difference between him and Smitherman. Both claim to be conservative, want more jobs for Texas, and want energy independence. But it may be that Smitherman’s direction toward that end is by way of “green” energy, such as wind power. I’m not against wind power, and there are parts of the state where that makes sense. But it’s expensive; it doesn’t create a lot of jobs; and it’s not a solution to government interference in the use of our state’s natural resources.

I had hoped to hear from Smitherman, to hear his version of his policies. But he didn’t make it. So, knowing what I do right now, based on meeting Parker in person, I’m giving him my vote in the runoff election.

The other RR Commissioner position was held by Elizabeth Ames Jones, who chose to run for US Senate rather than run for reelection. So this was also an open seat. The two on the ballot are Christi Craddick, a private lawyer specializing in the oil and gas world—from all directions, including land owners as well as small and large operating companies. She has helped write legislation favorable to business in the state, restricting regulation to just what is needed to protect property rights as well as reasonably clean air and water. Her opponent is Warren Chisum, a reliable conservative from the state legislature, who has run a small operator company in oil and gas.

Again, I am influenced by meeting a candidate in person. Christi Craddick is impressive, and handles questions related to various aspects of the business very well, with a wealth of information in her knowledge base. She has a successful practice, where she does a lot of good for the industry. It is probably a cut in pay to take on this job, but it is her passion, and she believes she can well serve the state. She has a lot of energy, and good ideas for meeting people in the field across the state. She grew up in Midland, in a family that has been in oil and gas for generations. She believes in hearing from the people who work in the industry; you can’t do this job from a desk in Austin.

Which brings us to what we know of her opponent. He’s a democrat who has run for RR Commissioner at least twice, and is about 80 years old; remember, this is a six-year term. In other words, the real race is being settled now, in the runoff election. I have nothing in particular against Warren Chisum. But hearing from her, I am convinced she is a good fit for the job.

Harris County Sheriff

One of the tougher races on the ballot right now is for Harris County Sheriff. Harris County, where Houston (a liberal-run metropolis) is located, is one of the largest law enforcement jurisdictions in the nation. It requires someone who is not only very strong on law and order, but also someone good at managing people among challenging circumstances. I like both of the candidates: Louis Guthrie and Carl Pittman. I have heard both of them, more than once, in person. I solved the indecision between them by voting for a third candidate (Ruben Monzon, who was also impressive and had been recommended to me, although I hadn’t met him) in the primary. Now it’s down to these two.

Both campaigns have dug up a bit of dirt on the other. I don’t have the resources to ferret out what if any is true, or maybe even important. So, setting that aside, I am leaning toward Louis Guthrie. I believe he has better experience, of longer duration in this area. And I believe he has both more management experience as well as natural leadership qualities.

Carl Pittman has been endorsed by Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which either hurts or helps, depending on your viewpoint. (My son Political Sphere spent half a decade in Arizona, and has mixed feelings about Sheriff Joe.) He’s a big, friendly, conservative black man. Again, totally welcome in our party. I hope that as we make a decision like this, if it goes against him, he will still be a leader in bringing other minorities who share so many of our values into the conservative camp.

This race is not one that will be settled during the runoff. The incumbent is Democrat Adrian Garcia, who got into office during the Obama sweep of county races. He will be a formidable opponent. My sense is that Louis Guthrie is best able to take on that challenge.

Judges

There are a few judges in the runoff. There are just a couple I feel strongly. One is David Medina for Supreme Court, Place 4. He spoke to our little group and seemed to me very well informed, very capable, and truly conservative in the constitutional sense. Another is Michael Landrum, for District Judge, 129th District (in Harris County area). He comes regularly to our meetings, and I like what he has to say. But also numerous other sources have recommended him, reinforcing my opinion.