* Texas Dems picked up a seat in the Texas House for the first time in 30 years.
* Mark Strama (D) deflected a re-election bid by Jack Stick.
* The evil Arlene Wohglemuth (R) lost to Chet Edwards (D), despite Tom DeLay's attempts to oust Edwards via targeted redistricting. College Station, of all places, is now represented by a Democrat in Congress. So is Crawford.
* Richard Morrison (D) gave Tom DeLay (R) a run for his money, capturing fully 41% of the votes in one of the state's most conservative areas.
* Hubert Vo won a Texas House seat, defeating Talmadge Heflin, a 22-year incumbent and chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
* Dallas elected Lupe Valdez, a lesbian and former migrant worker, as sheriff.
* The 2004 election brought a record number of women to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 109th Congress. Eight new women were elected, bringing the total number of women to 68, including 3 Delegates. Of that number, 23 are Republicans and 45 are Democrats. Additionally, a record 139 women were candidates for a seat in the House.
* Democrats held strong and even regained some lost ground here in Travis County. In addition to Strama's win, "Justice Jan" Patterson held onto her seat, Richard McCain became the new Precinct 3 constable, Constable Bruce Elfant blew away his challengers, Stephen Yelenosky wrestled the 345th District Court judgeship from Patrick Keel, Nancy Hohengarten kept her seat on the County Court at Law 5, and Greg Hamilton became Travis County's new sheriff. It's possible that Kelly White (D) can still beat Todd Baxter. A count of overseas ballots and recount of local ballots will decide the final outcome.
* Perhaps most importantly, you can still make a difference! There are two House races in Louisiana that were so close they will be decided in run-offs on December 4. Send $10 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to support the (broke!) run-off campaigns of Willie Landy Mount (D, LA-7) and Charlie Melancon (D, LA-3).
Posted by sarah at November 4, 2004 4:10 PM | TrackBack