TEXAS PRIMARY RESULTS
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 12:52AM Republicans and Democrats went to the polls yesterday to select their nominees for the fall races. Gov. Rick Perry, running away with the race in the final laps of the campaign won renomination outright against US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Wharton County GOP chair Debra Medina. Perry captured 51.2% of the vote to Hutchison’s 30.3%. Medina placed third with 18.5%. Run-offs in Texas occur if no candidate receives 50% plus one vote.
The victory was huge for Perry, as he won nomination for a third full term as the Lone Star State’s chief executive. He also finished George W. Bush’s final term as Governor, ascending to the top post from his post as Lt. Governor. He is already the longest-serving Governor in the history of Texas, and will be a heavy favorite to win re-election in November in what is shaping up to be a strong Republican year in America’s second largest state.
The results reflected a monumental collapse for Hutchison, who began the race early last year with a big lead over the Governor. Her on again-off again resignation from the Senate, a lack of issues focus in her advertising, poorly delivered attacks on Perry for his failed Trans-Texas Corridor project, and highlighting her endorsements from liberal newspapers to one of the most conservative voting electorates in the country cumulatively proved to be a highly flawed campaign strategy, despite the presence of Bush advisor Karl Rove as one of her top consultants. The endorsement of former President George H.W. Bush, ex-VP Dick Cheney, and most of the Republican congressional delegation also did little to help her.
Perry successfully labeled Hutchison as a Washington insider who had lost touch with the people back home. He lambasted her support of the Bush-Obama financial bail-out legislation, coining the nickname Kay “Bail-out” Hutchison. Perry moved hard right, playing to the primary electorate, by claiming that President Obama was “punishing” Texas, and even mused that succession from the US might be a subject people would begin addressing if the federal government continued along its current path.
The Governor now faces former Houston Mayor Bill White in the general election. White easily won the Democratic nomination, notching 76.5% of the vote in a field of weak candidates. It appears that under 5% of the registered voters will have participated in the Democratic primary when all of the votes are finalized. White’s total vote of approximately 450,000, representing ¾ of the total Dem ballots cast, is still more than 250,000 votes under Perry’s total, and he had just half of the Republican vote. Total turnout will break 15% -- over 2 million voters -- which is a very large number for a Texas primary. In 2006, for example, combined total turnout was only 1.1 million.
Though Washington, DC was completely rejected in the Governor’s race, the members of the congressional delegation facing primary challenges all did very well. For Republicans, Reps. Ralph Hall (57%), Kevin Brady (79%), Michael McCaul (82%), Mike Conaway (77%), Kay Granger (70%), Ron Paul (81%), Lamar Smith (81%), Kenny Marchant (84%), Michael Burgess (86%), John Carter (90%), and Pete Sessions (84%) all cruised to easy victories.
On the Democratic side, Reps. Ruben Hinojosa (85%), Sheila Jackson Lee (67%, though the vast majority of votes in this district remain uncounted), and Ciro Rodriguez (83%) likewise won comfortably.
In races that could potentially become competitive in the general election, the 17th district of Rep. Chet Edwards (D) and against Rodriguez in the 23rd, run-offs will be held on April 13 to finally determine nominees in those two seats. 2008 nominee Rob Curnock (29%) and businessman Bill Flores (33%) will square-off for the right to face Edwards. This race could quickly move into the toss-up category. Former CIA officer Bill Hurd (34%) and businessman Quico Canseco (32%) will duel in the Rodriguez seat. The Congressman will be a decided favorite in the general election.