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TX06 Special Election Followup
Today is May 1st and municipal election day in Texas. I wanted to follow up on the results of the TX06 special election that was held also. I thought there might be interest since there were 4 previous posts on the election with over 200 replies. I guess it is technically 3 posts (one, two, three) and a podcast in the last month.
The big contention was whether this “anti-Trump” upstart, Michael Wood, would be the future of the GOP. One of the candidates in the race was the widow of the individual who previously occupied the office. Mrs. Wright is the leading vote-getter and will be in the run-off. With 94% of the votes in, second place is barely held by Jake Ellzey, who I thought was the most likely winner (I didn’t know about the widow component). If these results hold, it will be two GOP candidates in the runoff. Third place is some Democrat that would certainly lose in the runoff. And that anti-Trump upstart? He is currently in 9th position with about 3% of the vote. It looks like that bold strategy didn’t pay off in MAGA country. Paging Liz Cheney…
| Candidate | Votes | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Susan Wright GOP | 15,020 | 19.21% |
| Jake Ellzey GOP | 10,842 | 13.86% |
| Jana Sanchez DEM | 10,476 | 13.40% |
| Brian Harrison GOP | 8,474 | 10.84% |
| Shawn Lassiter DEM | 6,941 | 8.88% |
| John Castro GOP | 4,308 | 5.51% |
| Tammy Allison DEM | 4,222 | 5.40% |
| Lydia Bean DEM | 2,913 | 3.72% |
| Michael Wood GOP | 2,497 | 3.19% |
| Michael Ballantine GOP | 2,212 | 2.83% |
The important thing is that the Camping Ban looks like it is passing in Austin. Yeah!
Published in Elections
Tea Party was crushed by Obama’s IRS goons before Trump ever came along. The Tea Party may not have been successful, but calling them sell outs is a bit over the top. Gary, you are a successful lawyer, and you claim Ricochet as friends. Many of your arguments are emotional and in bad faith — “Not a Troll because I am a Reagan Member” “I didn’t call you Nazis, I merely called you brownshirts and compared you to Hitler”. Why don’t you stick to good faith arguments? You seem to want to justify your opponents opinions of you.
Whelp, now it is every sane person in the country that has that low grade headache. And you take joy in the fact that we have a President implementing racist and Marxist policies. What does that say about the content of your character that you prefer racism to mean tweets?
That’s silly.
That’s why Gary likes Biden.
I think Mitt has an obligation of attending the Utah GOP meetings. He’s a second generation politician and knows how handle some jeering. It was good that he met with the other party folks, took some lumps, but then spoke his piece. That is way better than him staying in DC and hanging out with lobbyists.
Good points, but there are also other options: He could exile himself to a place like St. Helena or Alcatraz, for example. And if he does have to come back to attend the meeting, there is no reason he should be invited to speak. He has already said enough.
I would much prefer to beat the traitorous 139 in a primary. But if that is unsuccessful, then elect the Democrat so that a new non-traitorous Republican can be elected in the future. But the traitorous 139 “Trumpican” Representatives and the traitorous 8 Trumpican Senators must all be swept away.
I don’t see myself ever forgiving members of the sedition caucus. From the Washington Post:
If it were up to him, Kruse would prescribe a simple rule for network TV producers thinking about putting election denialists on-air: “Don’t book them, as long as they haven’t publicly retracted.”
The Harrisburg station expects to continue its practice at least through the 2022 elections and possibly through 2024. If legislators change their minds, the station will reflect that in their language, but it won’t simply wipe the slate clean for them.
“Elected officials are going to run on this,” Blanchard said. “This is an example of their judgment.”
In other words, no memory hole. No “let’s just move on.” And, sorry, no amnesty.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-politicians-who-tried-to-overturn-an-election–and-the-local-news-team-that-wont-let-anyone-forget-it/2021/05/01/cc8764f6-a91e-11eb-8d25-7b30e74923ea_story.html?fbclid=IwAR0j8UXpJUd34D_asxdRghJaC9H7kx2Xx2FHmByp4aKyb1cAjWsTwZyGIXw
I am looking forward to contributing to Mitt’s 2024 re-election campaign. And my county borders Utah so I can zip up there to volunteer.
My explanation for the TX-06 result is simple: Donald Trump remains the most powerful voice in the Republican Party. His endorsement still carries weight among most Republicans.
I was disappointed with Wood’s showing. I contributed to his campaign. I have sparred with the battalion of Ever-Trumpers (which seems a proper antithesis of Never-Trumpers) here at Ricochet & continue to speak out against our erstwhile President for the same reasons Michael Wood and @GaryRobbins have recited.
Much of the source of my discontent with Trump is illustrated in the comments here. Ever-Trumpers are eager to emulate the style of the man they revere. They claim lapses of logic without citing a fallacy or forming an opposing argument. They are quick to shout “Troll” (or some other snarky buzzword) and smugly assume predominance. They brand as enemies those who criticize any Trump shortcoming. They degrade the word liar by using it to express disagreement. And they condescend, introducing novel claims and then imputing ignorance to interlocutors. These match the verbal tactics of Donald Trump and diminish debate to merely shouting louder. Of course these ploys are often used by the Left. I expect someone has already shouted “gotcha” for that. If you believe “they do it too” justifies ignoring principled argument, we’ll have to agree our opinions are polar. I’ll not call you a name or a liar. How about you?
Purge Liz Cheney? Why? So we can replace her with someone with the moral fiber of Matt Gaetz or the credulity of Marjorie Taylor Greene? In my district, represented by one of those dastardly TEN, Trump has endorsed a crony’s relative with a criminal history to replace the accomplished Republican who crossed him. This venal streak in Trump’s character seems admirable to some. Not to me.
I’ll never go as far as voting for a third rate ward-politician like Joe Biden. I will also never again vote for Donald Trump. I want a President to seek respectful confrontation with his political opponents instead of primping in front of captive audiences. I also want a President who doesn’t overtly undermine Americans’ confidence in the electoral system and incite followers with bogus claims that his Vice-President can overturn an election.
Time will tell if Trump’s sway on the Republican Party prevails. It will be interesting to see next year how much energy Trump devotes to defeating Republicans who slighted him instead of rallying voters to defeat Democrats. So far, Trump has been more inclined to defame Mitch McConnell than to critique Joe Biden. If history is predictive, Trump’s preference to seek petty retributions does not bode well. For those of you who prefer to remain a loud minority in the USA instead of a ruling majority, stick with Donald Trump.
In an odd twist for this election. The FBI has been asked to investigate a mysterious robo-call that went out in the days before the election that accused Susan Wright of killing her husband for some insurance money. The call said she took out a million dollar insurance policy and then purposefully contracted Covid and spread it to her ill husband. The call was anonymous. Crazy! Special elections and jungle primaries are too entertaining.
That sounds like a plan!
I wish that I could write with the clarity of Caltory. I endorse his comment.
Whatever. Stopped reading here..if your grip on reality is that far off, why waste any more of my time.
This doesn’t mean anything in light of current events.
Could we finish a war?
I have explained to you about the second one over and over. It’s a bogus point, and we are way past the Rubicon on fixing it the way you have in your head.
I have explained to you over and over that the concept of free trade is not set up properly right now.
I completely agree with this.
I’m certainly looking forward to electioneering for the next obscure NeverTrump candidate in some location far, far away. Maybe that person will finish eighth and “garner” 4% of the vote. Baby steps.
Everyone in his position is tactical about who they endorse. It’s different when you are in office. That is how you have to analyze this. This isn’t my opinion, either.
I wish Gary knew something about policy outside of GOPe talking points.
Exactly.
The GOP is never going to let what Zuckerberg did and all of the Democrat lawfare happen again.
Trump has just labeled the fact that he lost in 2020 as “The Big Lie.” Hence is Trump arguing that those who disagree with him to be associated with Goebbels, et. al.?
Start at 41:00 American Greatness’ Pedro Gonzalez on why everything moves left all of the time
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/biden-says-to-hell-with-science-stay-masked-up/id1208232103?i=1000519475225
Ann Coulter is later
(I’m surprised the he didn’t call it “The Yuge Lie”.)
Perhaps you should pay attention to the actual words used.
President Trump did not say that people who disagree with him are associated with the Nazi regime. You said that, and very specifically.
President Trump referred to “The Big Lie” exactly as defined, as a propaganda mechanism. The fact that this propaganda mechanism was named and implemented by Nazis is irrelevant.
And we’ve seen “The Big Lie” propaganda mechanism used a lot in this country; those numerous major news stories that were repeated identically, with the same words, over and over, and turned out to be completely untrue. Those are working examples of The Big Lie.
Even if it’s true and may still be proven despite all the obstruction, everyone should just keep quiet?
Man, that sounds like a Democrat!
The issue is Zuckerberg’s ballot harvesting. It will be outlawed for the next election.
The GOP was caught flat-footed with the Democrat lawfair as well. The Heritage Foundation tried to warn them and they did jack.
Trump handled the actual facts poorly.
When listing traits of Donald Trump and some of his supporters here, I left out: “they limit themselves exclusively to information that meets a desire for confirmation bias.” As for the “grip on reality,” those who actually read what I wrote can see I covered that in my assertions regarding buzzwords and smugness.
QED
Probably not a good idea for you to be calling anybody else smug.
Fair enough. I suspect Mr. Trump will devote more energy to defeating Republicans in the off year than he will to defeating Democrats. His history and recent behavior suggest it. If I’m wrong, I’ll be happy to admit it—even to people here who consider calling someone “Never-Trump” to be the epitome of wit, but recoil at any notion of “Ever-Trump.”
“Never-Trump” is merely an accurate description of some people.