State House Results
By Byron LaMasters
It looks like there are no changes. I'm headed to dinner, but the Quorum Report has just posted that Vo leads Heflin by 26 votes with 22 ballots yet to be counted.
Also, Kelly White gained 24 votes in counting today, but Baxter still leads by 147 with all ballots counted.
Both races should have recounts, but it looks like Vo and Baxter will emerge as victors in these two races.
Update: Here's another somewhat confusing update on the race from the AP:
Longtime Republican Rep. Talmadge Heflin, chairman of the House budget-writing committee, trailed his Democratic challenger, businessman Hubert Vo, by 26 votes Monday night after officials with the Harris County Clerk's office had gone through absentee ballots. The count continued with provisional ballots, which are used when someone's eligibility to vote is questioned.
Among the ballots were about 189 provisional and 200 absentee ballots from people who voted in the race between Heflin and Vo.
After the count of absentee ballots was complete, Vo led Heflin by a vote of 20,679 to 20,653. Vo's margin over Heflin shrank by 12 votes.
As I predicted, it looks like Heflin gained votes (twelve) from the absentee ballots putting Vo's lead at 26 votes.
At least 24 poll watchers, half Democratic and half Republican, were on hand as the ballot review that began Sunday went into a second day.
While they waited, officials with Heflin's campaign and the Republican Party of Texas accused state Democratic Party representatives of harassing and criticizing Harris County election officials for how they conducted the ballot review.
"Our primary concern is to make sure every eligible vote is counted," said Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman Tina Benkiser. "The election officials are doing their job. It's completely uncalled for and casts a pall on the process when the process is working as state law dictates."
Craig Murphy, spokesman for the Heflin campaign, said such tactics have been employed by the Democratic Party throughout the campaign.
But Karen Loper, Vo's campaign manager, denied the accusations.
Nice. I do hope that the Democratic poll watchers are doing their job adequately harassing and criticizing Republicans and Harris County election officials after they've done a good job trying to steal this election for Talmadge Heflin. It's fun to see the Republicans whine and complain when there just aren't enough votes left to steal -- or so we can hope.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at November 8, 2004 07:03 PM
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If Baxter survives the recount, his second term will be his last. Here we have a Republican incumbent running for re-election in a district that was 57% Republican. His opponent was a moderate to liberal Democrat, and a woman to boot, with absolutely no political experience whatsoever. Baxter outspent Kelly White by $300,000, and had Anita Perry, David Dewhurst and John Cornyn throw their personal support into his campaign.
All those advantages, and he pulls a victory with a margin of less than 200 votes? Pathetic.
Baxter will likely be challenged in the Republican primary in 2006, and the Republican powers-that-be won't be at all inclined to help him. Indeed, they will probably want a better candidate, as the Democrats will likely make a major effort in District 48 next time around.
