Bob Daemmrich: Burton/Marjorie Kamys Cotera: Huffines/Laura Skelding: Huffman
Early voters favored Democratic challengers to Republican state Sens. Konni Burton of Colleyville and Don Huffines of Dallas, according to returns released Tuesday evening. Nathan Johnson was leading Huffines by 10 percentage points, and Beverly Powell was leading Burton by 2 percentage points.
The majority of the 15 Texas Senate races on the ballot this cycle were not considered competitive, but recent voting history in three Republican-held districts has put them in play for Democrats. Those seats, held by Huffines, Burton and state Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston, represent districts where more voters backed Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in 2016 or where the president had a narrow winning margin.
Early voting results show Huffman leading Democrat Rita Lucido by 15 percentage points in Harris County and 2 percentage points in Fort Bend County.
At stake during Election Day is Republicans’ three-fifths majority in the Senate. For years, the GOP faced hurdles to passing some conservative measures out of the upper chamber due to its “two-thirds rule,” which required the support of 21 members to bring a bill to the Senate floor. With 20 Republicans in the Texas Senate, that left Republicans one short of moving out bills without the help of a single Democrat.
In 2015, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick successfully spearheaded a move that lowered the threshold to three-fifths, which allowed the 21 Republicans in the Senate to dictate the flow of legislation — and block Democrats’ bills — during the 2015 and 2017 legislative sessions.
While a pickup of two or three state Senate seats won’t loosen Republicans’ majority since the GOP currently has a 21-to-10 advantage, it could drastically loosen Patrick’s grip on the state’s upper chamber because Republican senators might have to work across the aisle to get their legislation passed.
Source: Texas Tribune Blue Government News
