Dems win with economic populism and independent voters: A house-cleaning in both parties now on the table.
Please accept our apologies for being AWOL yesterday, with technical problems on our end -- and exhaustion. Hope to see you tonight, Thursday, November 5 at 8 pm for a discussion about what just happened to Texas, including us independent voters.
We mostly agree with today's Quorum Report article by Harvey Kronberg, the best in the business of understanding the Texas legislative and political process. Read Harvey's article entitled, "Some not-so-self evident takeaways from the 2026 election in Texas"
But Harvey does not look at what we are looking at. We will visit on what happened to the independent for Hays County Judge, Liz "Sumter" Gajdos, who ran an exceptionally well-organized effort, but lost with a poor showing at just 4%. What happened is something that cannot be fully explained by only the "blue wave". It's got something to do with one-party rule on the other foot. We'll explain our theory tonight.
Then there's there's the mess of the Austin's city election, with three of the five seats going into a runoff. Read this Austin Free Press article for the discussion. Essentially, the Watson machine had a good night. Austin voters -- who are very independent -- are not getting the full story.
For those of you following Bastrop County elections, there were three important races that went well for ending GOP one-party rule. Only one Democrat was elected, but it's a doozy with longtime Democrat, Dock Jackson's victory as the new Bastrop County Judge. As well, Dr. Beth Klenz, won two of the 5 counties in House District 17 -- Bastop and Caldwell counties -- though Rep. Stan Gerdes did prevail, Klenz came in with a strong 44%.
Then, there is the one and only Kat Hammer, running as a write-in for Bastrop County Commissioner, Precinct 4. Write-ins are nearly impossible due to how the voting machines are designed to try to eliminate so-called "under-voting", that is voters refraining from voting in races with only one candidate. Yet, Kat was able to garner 25% of the vote against David Glass, an amazing feat. There needs to be a case study on how Kat's team was able to pull this off.
Last, we will talk about the future of LIV and the independent Texas voter. Because, if this new administration stands a chance, a house-cleaning in both parties is now on the table.
