Category Archives: State news

State news

Texas in the presidential mix … who knew?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It’s so nice to see the nation talking positively about Texas, which — to be candid — isn’t usually the case in this modern world.

We usually find ourselves on the front pages when there’s a mass shooting at a church, shopping mall or a school; or when the state’s Republican Party hierarchy doesn’t something stupid.

These days, Texas is the talk of the nation. Why? Because we are setting the early-voting pace that other states are trying to match.

I saw a report tonight that said Texans have cast nearly 86 percent of all the ballots we cast in the 2016 election. We still have two days to go before the end of early voting; plus, we have Election Day balloting.

What does this mean? It could mean that Texas will be among the leaders in voter turnout when we count all the presidential election ballots rather than among the worst-performing states.

This is good news at any level I can imagine.

I said for years when I was writing opinion pieces for newspapers in Amarillo and Beaumont that one of the keys to good government must be vast voter participation. I used to caution residents of both communities about the danger of letting others make key political decisions for them; they might not share your views, I would say.

It looks for all the world that in Texas, as well as in many states, that voters are taking these get-out-the-vote pleas quite seriously.

It fills me with pride to hear the media talk about Texas’s pace-setting early vote totals in tones that suggest that other states should emulate what we are doing here.

State news

Texas is voting early, but … wait

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Here is some good news and some, oh, wait-and-see news.

The Texas Tribune reports that as of Monday, 46 percent of Texas registered voters had cast their ballots. Early voting ends on Friday. The good news is that the tally so far exceeds the total percentage of early votes cast in Texas during the 2016 presidential election.

Is this reason to rejoice, that Texas finally is going to finish far from the bottom of all states in voter turnout? I am not yet going to do that.

You see, what too often happens is that greater early vote totals do not necessarily translate into greater total vote turnout. It means only that more folks vote early. Period.

There well might be a change in this year’s vote total, given the enormous effort being expended chiefly by Democratic operatives to gin up the early vote. The message likely is being heard in Texas.

Harris County smashed early vote records. Same with Dallas and Travis counties. All of them are strong Democratic bastions. What’s more, even heavy GOP-leaning counties reported record number of voters casting their ballots early.

All of this is causing many folks to consider Texas to be a “battleground” or tossup state as the campaign staggers its way toward the finish line.

I am heartened by the early vote turnout. I am not yet willing to cheer until we get all the ballots counted at the end of this arduous Election Season.

State news

Texas becomes ‘battleground’? Who knew?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I won’t even think about predicting that Joe Biden is going to win Texas’s 38 electoral votes next month.

However, it is fascinating in the uber-extreme to think that this longstanding Republican bastion has become a battleground state in this year’s presidential election.

The Dallas Morning News/University of Texas-Tyler this past weekend published a public opinion survey that says Joe Biden holds a narrow lead over Donald Trump. Biden is up 3 percent over Trump in Texas — with just eight days to go before the election.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris is coming to Texas to campaign. Yes, just a bit more than week out from the election and we’re getting an up-close look at one of the major-party candidates for national office. And she’s a Democrat!

Granted, Texas isn’t going to be trampled by candidates the way, say, Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin will be pounded. Still, Texas has emerged from the ranks of those states that get zero attention from the presidential campaign teams.

Any of the Pacific Coast states are seen as Democratic bastions. Democrats take voters there for granted; Republicans realize Oregon, Washington and California are lost causes. Conversely, voters in Oklahoma, Utah, the Dakotas or Wyoming won’t see the candidates in the flesh. Republicans take those folks for granted; Democrats know they can’t win there.

Texas has become arguably the biggest prize on the national political map.

I have longed for this moment. I hope the state can flip this year, from GOP to Democrat. I don’t dare predict such a thing will occur.

It surely is fun to watch this spectacle unfold in real time.

State news

Paxton strikes back at whistleblowers

(Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s do a little math, shall we?

Seven top aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have called for a federal investigation into what they allege is corrupt practices with the AG’s office, including bribery.

Two of the seven were fired; two others were put on “leave.” Two plus two equals four, correct?

And yet a spokesman for the embattled AG says the actions taken have nothing to do with the complaint the top legal eagles have filed against Paxton. Where I come from, it looks for all the world as if the firings and the placing on leave have everything  to do with the whistleblower complaint.

Paxton ought to resign, per the request from U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a fellow Republican from Austin. There’s no way on Earth that the state’s chief law enforcement officer — who’s awaiting trial on securities fraud charges stemming from a Collin County grand jury indictment — can serve while having these storm clouds brewing over his head.

But the AG is hanging on.

Shameful, I am telling you.

As the Texas Tribune has reported:

The aides, who represented a large share of the agency’s most senior staff, alerted law enforcement and then agency human resources that they believed Paxton was using the power of his office to serve a political donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. The agency had taken the unusual step of weighing in on a lawsuit that involved Paul, and Paxton personally hired an outside investigator — in a process aides called highly suspect — to vet the donor’s complaints

Ian Prior, a spokesperson for Paxton’s campaign, denied Friday that the personnel decisions had anything to do with their accusations against Paxton.

“Any suggestion that this has to do with the whistleblower claims is false and demonstrates an unfamiliarity with the facts,” Prior said. “There are a number of reasons for these separations that we cannot discuss at this time.”

Ken Paxton is unfit for the office of Texas attorney general.

State news

Can it be, that Texas is state to watch on Election Night?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

When someone as experienced — or “grizzled” as some might suggest — a politics watcher as Dan Balz speaks to matters political, I am inclined to heed his wisdom.

So … the venerable Washington Post political analyst has said that Texas might emerge as the nation’s most intriguing state during this Election Season.

How so? How can this once boring Republican bastion become such a hot spot for political pundits around the world? How can Texas possibly hold the key to whomever gets elected president of the United States next month?

Balz says we got a glimpse into a possible near future with Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s near-victory over GOP U.S. Sen. Ted “The Cruz Missile” Cruz in 2018. Balz figures O’Rourke’s close finish is harbinger of things to come. One of those “things” might be the reemergence of the Democratic Party in a state that has been locked in a GOP vise-grip for the past three decades.

The state’s changing demographics have nearly everything to do with it, Balz figures. Texas is becoming increasingly Latino. Indeed, the Latino population is on track to become the largest ethnic group in the state. Latino voters, therefore, might be inclined to vote more Democratic than, say, Texas Anglos.

I will this offer this no-brainer prediction: If Joe Biden manages to pick off Texas’s 38 electoral votes next month — which few pundits predict will occur — there is no way on God’s Earth that Donald Trump can win re-election.

Indeed, Biden is running neck and neck with Trump in this state, which in itself is a sign of big time change in Texas.

As Balz wrote in a column published in the Houston Chronicle: Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said Trump “catalyzed” the demographic changes that already were at work. “If we say what explains why Texas has become much more competitive in 2018 and 2020, it’s Donald Trump’s presence in the White House. He is a drag on the Republican Party.”

The intrigue with Texas, though, stretches down the ballot, where Democrats might pilfer more offices held traditionally by Republicans. So, as Dan Balz notes, stay tuned for these ballots to be counted. There well could be a surprise or two to be revealed.

State news

Big voter roll in Texas? Will they turn out?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I understand Texas set a record for registered voters, with 17 million Texans now eligible to vote in the 2020 election.

Good deal, yes? Of course it is!

Except for this little factoid: Texas historically has been one of the worst-performing states in the Union with respect to voter participation.

Our state turnout generally registers below the national average, which in itself isn’t great. Something like 60 percent of Americans voted for president in 2016. The Texas turnout was less than 50 percent.

We are getting a major push most from Democrats to “vote!” They want more of us to take part to defeat Donald Trump, boot him out of the White House and end this ridiculous experiment of electing an ostensible non-politician to the nation’s highest political office.

It’s good to know we have managed to register a lot of folks to vote for president this year and beyond. That’s only part of the story.

The more important chapter will be written if all 17 million of us turn out to vote. That won’t happen, but it would be gratifying to see us get somewhere close to that mark.

local news, political news, State news

Will this surge spell end of Trump Era?

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Harris County, Texas, has set two records in a row since the start of early voting on Tuesday.

Dallas County up Interstate 45 hasn’t done too badly, either.

Oh, and how about Travis County, where the state Capitol can be found? They’re turning out in huge numbers, too.

Same for Bexar County.

What does this mean for the 2020 presidential election. Some Democratic activists believe it bodes well for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and us Bidenistas who want the Democrats to oust Donald Trump and Mike Pence from the White House.

I am not going to count them chickens just yet.

However, I hasten to add that Democrats have been all over TV, radio and in print telling us all to “get out and vote.” If the first two days of early voting in Texas are an indication, the message has been heard. Democrats hope it means Biden and Harris are reaping the ballot-box reward.

Let me crystal clear: I do, too, want them to harvest the electoral fruit of this get-out-the-early-vote drive.

Harris, Dallas, Bexar and Travis counties all are Democratic strongholds. I have acquaintances in blood-red Randall and Potter counties who believe the Democratic ticket is catching fire up yonder in the Panhandle. I … am not so sure about that.

However, the record-setting early-vote turnout in those Democratic bastions gives me hope that just maybe, perhaps, possibly the state could turn from an R to a D on the strength of that monstrous balloting tide.

To be sure, the Trumpkins are turning out as well. They’re flying plenty of “Trump-Pence” flags in rural Texas. Donald Trump, though, isn’t going to pitch a huge early vote among his faithful. Indeed, he wants fewer of us do our patriotic duty. Go figure.

local news, State news

Texans answer the call

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas started voting for president of the United States today.

How are we doing? How is the state responding to the mostly Democratic call to vote early? First indications suggest that we answered the call.

My wife and I became statistics in that effort. We voted early today. Indeed, we voted before noon today. We didn’t see a huge crowd, although voter traffic in our Princeton precinct appeared brisk.

Reporting statewide suggest that the larger counties experienced gigantic turnouts at polling places. Travis County? Big. Same with Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar counties.

I have long been a bit suspicious about early voting turnout and whether it indicates larger turnouts overall. In the past, we have seen only that larger early voter turnout means only that more voters cast their ballots prior to Election Day; the total number has remained static. In Texas, that overall turnout has remained among the worst in the nation.

That might be changing this time, given the panic that Donald Trump is trying to instill in voting Americans; he keeps yapping about “rampant fraud” in the election. There’s no such thing as “rampant” fraud anywhere.

The conventional wisdom suggests that large turnout helps Democrats, which is why Republicans are trying to suppress that turnout — with help from Russia.

Let’s see how his plays out until Oct. 30, the final day Texans can vote early. My ol’ trick knee is beginning to throb and it’s telling me we might see the dawn of a new political day in Texas.

State news

Texas could determine this election

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I won’t predict this, given that my political predicting skills are quite suspect, but I want to offer a possible scenario to ponder as Texas prepares to commence early voting for the presidency.

If the state decides to grant its 38 electoral votes to Joe Biden when the ballots are counted, it will be “game over” for Donald Trump.

We keep hearing about astonishing early-voting turnouts in states where it has begun. The clarion call for early voting has come mostly from Democrats who encourage Americans to cast their ballots early to ensure they get counted. Five million-plus have done so, reportedly a huge increase over the early votes cast at this time in 2016.

Is Texas going to join the early-vote parade? I hope so.

Thus, it might be a harbinger of a major surprise for the Trumpkin Corps that believes — and they have some reason to hold onto that belief — that Texas will remain in the Republican column. The latest Texas Tribune poll puts Trump ahead by 5 percentage points; the Trump lead has been teetering a bit during the campaign, but that’s what it is at the moment, according to the Tribune.

Trump carried Texas by 9 percentage points over Hillary Clinton. A nice margin, to be sure, but far less than what Mitt Romney rolled up in 2012 against President Obama and even less than John McCain’s total in 2008 against Sen. Obama.

My point, I guess, is that Trump’s hold on Texans’ vote might not be as secure as he and the Trumpkins believe.

If Biden even cuts deeply into the Trump margin in 2016, then we still might be in store for a Biden blowout.

Please … don’t hold me to this. I’m just thinking out loud, man.

State news

Shame on you, Gov. Abbott

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

What you see on this blog is an editorial illustration that spells out the idiocy of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to restrict the number of mail-in drop boxes for each of the state’s 254 counties.

Harris County is the state’s most populous county. Loving County is the least populated county. They both get a single drop box. I live in Collin County, with a population of more than 1 million residents; we get a single drop box, too. As does Dallas County, Bexar County, Travis County … all of em!

You want to see a thinly veiled attempt at voter suppression? This map spells it out for you.

Abbott declared some phony concern over ballot security. Never mind the absence of any credible evidence that supports that concern. County election officials throughout Texas do their jobs with diligence and dedication. They take oaths to protect the U.S. and Texas constitutions.

Abbott’s answer to this bogus fear is to eliminate multiple drop box sites in all counties regardless of their population.

I am incredulous to think that Abbott actually believes we are going to fall for his fraudulent claim that ballot security is the driving force behind this maneuver. It is nothing of the sort.

What we see here is an attempt to persuade potentially millions of Texans from voting early, which purportedly bodes well for Democratic candidates and poorly for Republicans — such as Gov. Abbott.