This guide is for those voting in the democratic primaries. Green party conventions are on Tuesday, March 10th. Opinions are my own-please do your own research and pick the candidates that work for you.
Candidates for senator: james talarico, Ahmad R. Hassan, jasmine crockett
Article w talarico and crockett israel history, Reddit thread on crockett/aipac, Crockett israel article, Talarico republican donor article, Talarico aipac money video, Video of talarico and crockett on israel
Candidates for d10: caitlin rourk, dawn marshall, bernie reyna
Candidates for d11: claire reynolds, pedro ruiz
Candidates for d27: "Stock" Castro-Mendoza, tanya lloyd, Wayne Raasch
checked their instagrams for any mention of ICE-strange to see immigration omitted in a south texas district. tanya had one small post where she didn't say much and stock didn't have much at all. wayne doesn't have an online presence.
Candidates for d37: Greg Casar, Esther Amalia de Jesus Fleharty
State:
Governor: Bobby Cole
L. Governor: Marcos Isaias Velez
AG: Joe Jaworski
Comp, PA: no endorsement
Comm, GLO: Jose Loya
Chief Justice, SC: Maggie Ellis
Justice, SC, P7: Kristen Hawkins
Mem., SBoE, D5: Kevin Jackson
State Rep, D19: Javi Andrade
State Sen, D21: Cortney Jones
State Rep, D47: Pooja Sethi
State Rep: D49: Gigs Hodges,
State Rep: D50: Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch
Governor: Angela "TiaAngie" Villescaz, Carlton W. Hart, Zach Vance, Patricia Abrego, Bobby Cole, Chris Bell, Jose Navarro Balbuena, Gina Hinojosa
governor questionnaire, hinojosa vote on texas support for israel, article abt some candidates, youtube vid, reddit thread, bobby cole agenda
Lieutenant governor: Courtney Head , Marcos Isaias Velez, Vikki Goodwin
Attorney general: Anthony "Tony" Box , Joe Jaworski, Nathan Johnson
meet the candidates article, meet the candidates article 2, joe jaworski article
Comptroller of public affairs: Savant Moore , Sarah Eckhardt, Michael Lange
questionnaire, article, eckhardt cosponsored this bill supporting the state of israel?
Commissioner General Land Office: Jose Loya, Ben Flores
Justice, Supreme Court Place 7: Kristen Hawkins, Gordon Goodman
Member, State Board of Education, District 5: Allison Bush, Abigail Gray, Victor Sampson, Kevin Jackson, Neto Longoria, Stephanie Limon Bazan
State Representative, District 19: Javi Andrade, Kelly Hall
State Senator, District 21: Judith Zaffirini, Cortney Jones
judith zaffirini also cosponsored this bill supporting the state of israel, and this
State Representative, District 47: Joseph Kopser, Pooja Sethi
State Representative, District 49: Sam Slade, Kimmie Ellison, Robin Lerner, Gigs Hodges, Montserrat Garibay, Josh Reyna, Daniel Wang, Kathie Tovo
State Representative, District 50: Jeremy Hendricks, Nathan Boynton, Samantha Lopez-Resendez, William Rannefeld, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, John Hash
LOCAL
Commissioner P2: Amanda Marzullo
Commissioner P4: Susanna Ledesma-Woody
Justice, P1: Andrew Reginald Hairston
Justice, P2: Mariel Kelley
Constable, P4: no endorsement
County Chair: Doug Greco
Precinct 2: Rick Astray-Caneda III, Brigid Shea, Amanda Marzullo, Reese Ricci Armstrong
article, brigid shea gave the tax break to tesla
Precinct 4: Susanna Ledesma-Woody, Ofelia Maldonado Zapata, george morales iii, gavino fernandez jr
Justice Precinct 1: Ciara Parks, Andrew Reginald Hairston
Justice Precinct 2: Randall Slagle, Mariel Kelley
Constable: Gabriel Padilla, Al Saenz
County Chair: Doug Greco, Jessica Cohen
THE BASICS
The Primary Election decides which candidates will be on the ballot in the November General Election.
The state is divided into numerous districts and precincts for different offices. For example, US representative districts are different than Texas representative districts. You may only vote in the districts that you live in.
At the polls, you will select a Republican or a Democratic ballot to cast your votes. You must vote in either the Republican primary or the Democratic primary; you cannot mix and match.
Early voting begins Tuesday, February 17th and continues through Friday, February 27th. Election day is Tuesday, March 3rd.
Phones are not allowed at the polls. You should print out or write down your choices and bring them with you.
NATIONAL
In this primary, Austinites will be voting on candidates for the next senator and congressional representatives.
Travis County is divided into five congressional districts: D10, D17, D21, D25, and D35. We can talk more about the gerrymandering of these districts later, but for now, visit votetravis.gov to find which district you're in & research the people running to represent you.
Despite Austin being overwhelmingly left-leaning, D35 and is currently the only office held by a democrat.
STATE
While federal offices can dictate what's happening in the country as a whole, state offices operate only within the state. This is why different states have different policies.
In this election, we’re choosing candidates for Governor, Attorney General, Supreme Court Chief Justice, and so many more. Those who win this election will face the republican nominees in the November election.
Some of the offices on the ballot are lesser known than others. The following will give very brief overviews into what some of these officials do for the state government and Texans as a whole.
Governor - State’s chief executive. Signs/vetoes bills, makes policy decisions and recommendations. Our governor is Greg Abbott. (running for reelection)
Lieutenant Governor - Second highest official. President of Texas Senate. Establishes committees, appoints chairpersons and members. Has broad discretion in following Senate procedural rules. Our lieutenant governor is Dan Patrick (running for reelection).
Attorney General - Chief legal officer. Represents the state in litigation, investigates fraud allegations and misuse of state funds. Our current attorney general is Ken Paxton (not running).
Comptroller of Public Accounts: Collects all state tax revenue, estimates how much revenue can be spent. Our current comptroller is Kelly Hancock (r-running for reelection). Hancock recently doubled Texas’s investment in Israeli bonds to $280M.
Commissioner of the General Land Office: Manages land and mineral rights of state properties, manages The Alamo, historically heavily prioritizes oil & gas, manages disaster recovery funds. Our current commissioner is Dawn Buckingham (r-running for reelection.) this also happened before buckingham
Supreme Court Chief Justice: This is the court of last resort for civil matters in Texas. There's eight justices and one chief justice. The chief justice oversees the judicial branch. Our current chief justice is Jimmy Blacklock (r-running for reelection).
Supreme Court Justice Place 7: This is the court of last resort for civil matters in Texas. There's eight justices and one chief justice. Place 7 is currently held by Kyle Hawkins (r-running for reelection).
Member, State Board of Education, District 5: Texas has 15 education districts. The majority of Austin is in district 5. Members set policies and curriculum standards, manage the school fund, and review charter school applications. Our current representative is Rebecca Bell-Metereau (d-not running).
State Senator: Crafts and votes on legislation. Legislation must pass both the state senate and the state house. Our current state senator in district 21 is Judith Zaffirini (d-running for reelection).
State Representative: Member of the Texas House of Representatives. Makes laws & approves budgets with the Texas Senate. There’s 150 districts, and one representative per district. We're voting on 19 ( Ellen Troxclair r, running), 21 (Dade Phelan, r, not running), 47 (Vikki Goodwin, d, running), 49 (Gina Hinojosa, d, running for governor), 50 (James Talarico, d, running for US senate)
LOCAL
Just like the federal government oversees country-wide matters and the state government oversees statewide matters, the county oversee county matters. Here's a short breakdown of the county offices we're voting on:
Commissioner: Travis county has four commissioner precincts, each with one commissioner. Commissioners adopt the budget and tax rate, set salaries, approves purchases. The current commissioner is Brigid Shea (d, running for reelection).
Justice of the Peace: Smaller or minor court cases. There’s five precincts in Travis county, one justice per precinct. The current justice in Precinct 1 is Yvonne Williams (d-not running) and Precinct 2 is Randall Slagle (d-running).
Constable: Law enforcement agency for Travis County. Processes warrants, enforces law, executes court orders. The current constable in precinct 4 is George Morales (d-running for commissioner).
County Chair: chief executive of their political party, recruits precinct chairs, directs party strategy. Our current chair is Doug Greco (d-running for reelection).
VOTE!
While some of these offices will more than certainly be held by Republicans come November, not all of these races are so clear cut.
Local offices have potential to make big changes in Austin politics and the lives of regular people.
Primary elections have notoriously low turnout but also have the opportunity for great change. Make sure you and yours make it to the polls.
