Texas House: Balance of Power Hangs in the Balance

Chuck Hopson

With one narrow win in the House confirmed in a recount, Democrats are closer than ever to taking the House to a 75-75 split. So now it comes down to one remaining House recount, plus a Senate run-off, to settle the balance of power in the Legislature.

On Dec. 2, after two days of hand recounts in House District 11, election officers in the district's four counties confirmed that incumbent Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, kept his seat and slightly increased his initial 102-vote margin over GOP challenger Brian Walker (the exact numbers will be confirmed by the secretary of state).

So now it comes down to Dallas County's still-undecided HD 105 race, where Repub­lic­an Rep. Linda Harper Brown currently sits 20 votes ahead of Democrat Bob Romano. Now the issue is "emphasis" votes. Tradi­tion­ally, with a paper ballot, if a voter checks a box and then adds emphasis, such as circling or underlining the candidate's name, election officials tend to allow it if the intention is clear enough. But with an electronic vote, pressing the button twice negates the vote. Democrats argued before the 160th Judicial District Court that electronic straight-ticket votes should stand, overriding deselections. That argument failed on Nov. 25, when Judge Jim Jordan determined he didn't have jurisdiction on the case, so the Texas Democratic Party went to federal court seeking a temporary restraining order against the Dallas Co. Elections Division, claiming voter suppression. TDP Chair Boyd Richie defended himself against allegations of trying to rewrite the rule book, noting, "Win or lose, this has always been about protecting Texans' votes."

Still to come is the Dec. 16 run-off in Senate District 17 between Houston Demo­crat Chris Bell and Republican Joan Huff­man. Democrats spent the last year building up the Harris Co. party, but Republicans are optimistic that "failed 2006 gubernatorial candidate Bell" is fresher in voters' memories than "popular U.S. Congressman Bell." Neither side is claiming an early victory, because run-offs are too unpredictable. Take the 2007 special election in Fort Worth. While 17,680 voters turned out for the seven-way first round, the run-off turnout plummeted to 10,280, with Democrat Dan Barrett beating Republican Mark Shelton 52%-48%. But because run-offs tend to bring out the base, they can also produce unrepeatable results: In this year's rematch, Shelton pummeled Barrett 55%-43%.