Last night in Texas marijuana legalization supporter Beto O’Rourke defeated incumbent Rep. Silvestre Reyes in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 16th congressional district. O’Rourke won 50.5 percent to Reyes 44.3 percent, winning the party’s nomination outright and avoiding a run off. Given the district’s heavy democratic leaning, O’Rourke is all but assured to win the [...]

In another sign of Mitt Romney’s problems in the deep South, a new Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research poll shows Rick Santorum with an eight point lead in the Texas primary, scheduled for May 29th. The question was asked, “If the Republican primary election for United States President were held today, for whom would you [...]

Over at First Read, they are reporting that the Obama campaign is going to “attempt to at least experiment with organizing” in Arizona, Georgia and Texas. While, in theory, I could conceive of how Arizona or Georgia might end up coming into play in a relatively close 2012 election, I agree with Jon Chait, there [...]

In the Texas 27th, longtime Democratic incumbent Representative Solomon Ortiz conceded defeat to Republican Blake Farenthold after a recount found Ortiz lost by only a few hundred votes. From The Hill: Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) conceded defeat to Republican challenger Blake Farenthold late Monday after the recount he requested barely made a dent in the [...]

Democrat and former Houston Mayor Bill White is tied with incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry at  43 percent apiece, according to a new PPP poll. In addition, White benefits from strong approval ratings compared to Perry. From PPP: Perry is an unusually weak incumbent, while White is an unusually strong challenger. Only 36% of voters [...]