By Jack Alford, NSD vice president
In case you’re curious about how the March 5 primary elections turned out, and haven’t had the time to investigate, here are some results and thoughts on results of elections that NSD members might care about.
This article covers Travis County and North Shore voting. For statewide results, look here.
Turnout
Overall Travis county voter turnout was about 17 percent.
On average, about 25 percent of registered voters in our five NSD precincts turned out to vote. So, even though there are more Republican than Democratic voters in our area, we have an opportunity to turn out a lot more Dems in November.
President
Joe Biden got 84 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary in Travis County, with Marianne Williamson getting 6 percent, and Dean Phillips below 5 percent.
Comparing the two primaries, Biden received around 78,000 votes in Travis County, compared to about 30,000 for Trump.
US Senate
Colin Allred got about 50,400 votes (53.4 percent) in Travis County, while Roland Gutierrez got just over 30K votes (32 percent). All other candidates were in the low single digits.
On the Republican side, Cruz got about 36,000 votes (76 percent).
US House, District 10
Out of about 8,500 votes, Theresa Boisseau won handily, with just under 72 percent of the vote, with Keith McPhail getting about 28 percent.
Boisseau’s Republican opponent in November, Michael McCaul, also won handily, with about 70 percent of the GOP vote.
Theresa has a tough fight ahead of her, and needs all the help we can give her.
State Representative, District 19
Out of about 3,200 votes, our friend (and NSD member) Dwain Handley won with about 58 percent. His November opponent, Ellen Troxclair, won the GOP primary by a similar margin.
This General Election race is one in which we on the North Shore can have a significant impact. Let’s all plan to do what we can to help Dwain send “The Trox” back to Lakeway!
District Judge, 353rd District
Sherine Thomas won this race with 57 percent of the vote, ending the tenure of “vexatious litigant” Madeleine Connor, who seemingly only ran in the previous election out of spite for her predecessor.
Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals, Place 2
It looks like Edward Smith and Maggie Ellis, who have both attended or spoken at NSD events, are headed for a runoff. Smith, the incumbent, led Ellis with 38 percent vs her 34 percent. Melissa Lorber won 28 percent of the vote.
Travis County District Attorney
Jose Garza won with 67 percent of the vote, defeating Jeremy Sylestine and the dark-money PAC that had flooded our mailboxes with anti-Garza messages. Sylestine has been described as a “stealth Republican.” During his campaign, the PAC flooded our mailboxes with scary flyers describing how Garza had released on bail hordes of criminals who are now coming to get us.
Precinct 281 Chair (Republican)
The race over who will be the Republican chair of one of our North Shore precincts seemed to be a particularly heated one. It was ultimately won by incumbent Steven Liebel, who defeated Jeff Flauding by a 13-point margin.
There was no contest for any Democratic precinct chair position, which are all filled with cooperatives and aligned Democrats, under the able leadership of Superprecinct Chair Marie Diemer, who also chairs Pct 281. (See separate article on North Shore Dem precinct chairs.)
Republican Propositions
Unlike our Dem primary ballot, the GOP ballot contained 13 propositions, including a number of anti-immigrant, anti-vax, and anti-public school sentiments. Of course, they all passed handily – although it seems some analysts interpret statewide results as indicating declining support for school vouchers. See the Republican propositions here.
All Results
There were many uncontested races (for example, Vikki Goodwin, Ann Howard, and many judges) that we don’t have space to include here. For more details, or the results of other races, go to the Travis County Summary Page. For State-level results, just do a web search for “Texas Primary Election Results 2024”.
Important dates for May 2024 runoff
Don’t forget the runoff for those important races still contested. Election Day is May 28.
Here are some key dates:
April 29: Last day to register to vote
May 17: Last day to apply to vote by mail
May 20: First day of early voting
May 24: Last day of early voting
May 28: Last day to receive a ballot by mail
May 28: Election Day
NSD will keep you posted in the weeks ahead.
Links:
Sounds like we're on a roll. Lets turn out for Dwain Handley. I think he's the best shot we've ever had for local representation.
Nice wrap-up, Jack. And a reminder: Mark your calendars for the May 4th local election (early voting April 22-30) to stop a Republican takeover of the Travis County Appraisals District Board. See March 17 blog on this website.