Democratic Blog News Endorses Paul Sadler For U.S. Senate

Primary run-off Election Day is 7:00am-7:00pm, Tuesday, July 31. We encourage all Democratic voters to cast their ballot for Paul Sadler.

Collin Co. Election Day Polling Locations & Sample Ballots

The Democratic Party's runoff ballot is short. It has just one statewide ballot position for U.S. Senate. Democratic Blog News endorses Paul Sadler in the Democratic runoff for U.S. Senate and encourages all Democratic voters to cast their ballots for this well qualified candidate.

Sadler's extensive Texas legislative experience in public education and professional work on renewable energy give him a solid grounding on issues that are critical to Texas and the nation. He is the obvious choice in the runoff to be our Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, and will best represent Texas, if elected.

Many Democrats voted for Grady Yarbrough in the May 29 primary because they recognize the name Yarbrough on the ballot. Grady Yarbrough seemingly snuck onto the runoff ballot because too many Democrats confused him with the former Democratic statesman, Ralph Yarborough. Grady Yarbrough ran twice as a Republican for statewide office -- he is definitely no Ralph Yarborough. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, Yarbrough “hasn’t kept up with Federal Elections Commission campaign finance filings […] There is no documented proof about how his campaign is funded.” When asked about his position on immigration, Yarbrough said that the Berlin Wall was “pretty effective.”

If you love outside of Collin Co. you can find your polling place here.

Candidate backgrounder after the more jump.

TDP Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa Coming To Dallas August 27

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa will be at Fairview Farms Corral Barn on Monday, August 27 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm to support the Democratic candidates for the Fifth District Court of Appeals. (Fairview Farms Corral Barn, 3314 North Central Expressway, Plano 75074 - map)

The Texas District Courts of Appeals are distributed in fourteen districts around the state of Texas. The Courts of Appeal have intermediate appellate jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases appealed from district or county courts. Like the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals, Justices of the Texas Courts of Appeals are elected to six-year terms by general election.

Appeals from Collin, Dallas, Kaufman, Rockwall and Grayson counties (map) are all heard by the 5th District Court of Appeals, which includes one Chief Justice and twelve other Justices.

In the 2012 General Election five Democratic Candidates are running for the 5th Court of Appeals.

• Tonya Holt for 5th District Court of Appeals Place 11
  
• Penny Phillips for 5th District Court of Appeals Place 5
  
• Larry Praeger for 5th District Court of Appeals Place 12
  
• David Hanshen for 5th District Court of Appeals Place 9
• Dan Wood for 5th District Court of Appeals Place 2
  

Both civil and criminal appeals are typically heard by a panel of three justices, unless in a particular case "en banc" hearing is ordered, in which instance all the justices of that Court hear and consider the case. (Graphical Guide to the Court System of Texas)

Texas Tea Party Favorite Ted Cruz Is Cruising To Win U.S. Senate Runoff

Public Policy Polling found a 52-42% lead for Texas Tea Party favorite former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate runoff. Cruz is ahead by a whooping 75-22% margin with Tea Party voters, more than making up for a 56-39% deficit to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst with voters who don't consider themselves members of that movement. Cruz's likely victory Tuesday is also indicative of a generational gap within the Texas Republican ranks. Dewhurst leads with seniors, ages 56-39. But younger Republican voters are going heavily for the Tea Party candidate, 60% to Dewhurst's 33% with voters ages 18-45, and 59% to 35% with voters in the 46-65 age range.

Public Policy Polling: PPP's final poll of the Republican Senate runoff in Texas finds Ted Cruz opening up a 52-42 lead, an increase from our survey two weeks ago that found him ahead 49-44.

Cruz's victory is driven by 4 things: the Tea Party, the enthusiasm of his supporters, a generational divide within the Texas Republican ranks, and the lack of regard the party base currently holds for Rick Perry.

Cruz is ahead by a whooping 75-22 margin with Tea Party voters, more than making up for a 56-39 deficit to Dewhurst with voters who don't consider themselves members of that movement. There has been too much of a tendency to ascribe any Republican primary upset over the last few years to Tea Party voters, but this is one case where it's well justified.

Cruz has a 63-33 advantage with voters who describe themselves as 'very excited' about voting in Tuesday's runoff election. He also has a 49-45 advantage with those describing themselves as 'somewhat excited.' The only reason this race is even remotely competitive is Dewhurst's 59-31 lead with voter who say they're 'not that excited' about voting. It's an open question whether those folks will really show up and if they don't it's possible Cruz could end up winning by closer t0 20 points.

The greater excitement among Cruz voters can also be measured by their eagerness to get out and cast their ballots during the early voting period. Cruz leads 55-40 among those who say they've already voted, so Dewhurst will likely need a huge advantage among election day voters to overcome the deficit. But Cruz has a 49-44 lead with those who have yet to vote too.

Finally this is a story of surrogates and quite possibly a deep repudiation of Rick Perry. By a 31/24 margin voters say they're more likely to vote for a candidate backed by Sarah Palin, who gave her support to Cruz.

Read the full story @ Public Policy Polling

Among the ten largest counties in Texas, Collin County ranked first in Republican voter turnout and second to last in Democratic voter turnout, as percentage of total registered voters. This tale of two parties is indicative of the Tea Party's organizational strength among grassroots conservatives in the county and the Democratic Party's challenge to reconnect with its atrophied grassroots base of voters.

Early Voting		Democratic Party			Republican Party
County	Reg Voters	Cumulative In-Person Voters	Cumulative In-Person And Mail Voters	Cumulative Percent Early Voting	Cumulative In-Person Voters	Cumulative In-Person And Mail Voters	Cumulative Percent Early Voting
Harris	1,930,869	9,915	19,019	0.98%	53,040	70,481	3.7%
Dallas	1,136,239	12,806	15,558	1.37%	27,510	33,895	3.0%
Tarrant	937,440	8,710	11,010	1.17%	29,050	34,837	3.7%
Bexar	881,633	11,709	13,958	1.58%	28,187	32,764	3.7%
Travis	597,718	5,181	5,575	0.93%	14,153	16,056	2.7%
Collin	440,085	947	995	0.23%	20,693	22,650	5.1%
El Paso	375,238	7,994	8,284	2.21%	2,043	2,301	0.6%
Denton	369,156	496	536	0.15%	12,739	14,338	3.9%
Fort Bend	326,810	738	834	0.26%	11,412	14,451	4.4%
Hidalgo	296,452	13,742	14,750	4.98%	1,813	2,022	0.7%
Total	7,291,640	72,238	90,519	1.24%	200,640	243,795	3.3%