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2010 elections

The latest 2010 elections news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Twenty Who Gave Plenty

    By Matt Stiles

    Houston homebuilder Bob Perry tops the list of the biggest donors to Texas candidates in the last half of 2009. McAllen developer Alonzo Cantu and Dallas businessman Ross Perot Sr. also gave large sums. Full Story 

    McAllen developer Alonzo Cantu, Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Dallas businessman H. Ross Perot were among the largest donors to Texas candidates and officeholders during the second half of 2009, according to state campaign reports.

  • Spoiler Alert

    By Abby Rapoport

    What's it like to be a person who wages a no-win campaign but, by taking votes away, dooms the chances of one or more of the other candidates in the race? Mark White knows. Kinky Friedman knows. Debra Medina could soon find out. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmerich

  • Life of the Parties

    By Ross Ramsey

    Early voting in the Republican and Democratic primaries starts in three weeks, and the election is in five. While there are nearly 200 legislative races on the ballot, only a few are real contests. Here are the ones worth watching — as of now. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Where's Matt?

    By Ross Ramsey

    Bill Flores, one of five Republicans who wants a crack at U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards in November, has hired infamous ex-Kay Bailey Hutchison spokesman Matt Mackowiak to run his campaign. Full Story 

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  • On the Records: Per-Capita Money Maps

    By Matt Stiles

    The governor's race candidates fill their campaign coffers disproportionately from some rural areas, according to a per-capita calculation. Each Dallas resident gave $1 to the race in 2009, for example, while those in Blanco donated $57. Full Story 

    Per-capita contributions to gubernatorial candidates in 2009.

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Hu explores on the schism between Bushworld and Perrywold and the increasingly curious question of what Debra Medina wants; Stiles goes all Shark Week on gubernatorial campaign finance, with searchable databases, bubble maps and word clouds; M. Smith on what happens if there's a GOP runoff; Rapoport on the sniping between Perry and KBH on transparency; Hamilton on KBH's abortion issue odyssey; Ramshaw exposes the disgracefully low percentage of state school employees who abuse or kill profoundly disabled Texans and are then prosecuted for their acts; Thevenot on higher ed's tuition time bomb; Aguilar on the Latino pay gap; Ramsey on Farouk Shami's "gift" to Hank Gilbert; Ramsey and Philpott on the the Supreme's Court's corporate campaign cash fallout; and E. Smith's interviews with House Speaker Joe Straus with retiring Republican state representative — and future Texas State chancellor? — Brian McCall. The best of our best from January 18 to 22, 2010. Full Story 

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  • No Love Lost

    By Elise Hu

    When George H.W. Bush becomes the latest denizen of Bushworld to endorse Kay Bailey Hutchison at an event at his West Houston home this morning — following on the heels of KBH supporters James Baker, Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, and Margaret Spellings — it will be impossible to pretend any longer that there isn't a Bush-versus-Perry narrative at play in the 2010 governor's race. But what's really going on here? Full Story 

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    Credit: Todd Wiseman illustration

  • Who's Got What

    By Julián Aguilar

    A review of campaign finance reports for the period from July to December 2009 reveals that some candidates for the Texas House are capable of raising serious money. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • The Comeback of Corporate Cash

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in a federal campaign finance case could have an immediate affect on state elections here in Texas, where a ban on corporate contributions has been on the books. Ben Philpott, who's covering the governor's race for KUT News and the Tribune, filed this report. Full Story 

  • The Abortion Answer

    By Reeve Hamilton

    As she demonstrated in last week's debate, Kay Bailey Hutchison still struggles with how to describe her position on an issue that many Republicans consider sacrosanct. Full Story 

  • Ready to Runoff

    By Morgan Smith

    Let's say, thanks to Debra Medina, neither Rick Perry nor Kay Bailey Hutchison cracks 50 percent in the Republican gubernatorial primary. What exactly happens next? When? And which of the two top finishers will have the edge? Full Story 

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  • 2010: What Not to Wear

    By Ross Ramsey

    Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farouk Shami got himself photographed wearing a scarf that says "Palestine" on one end and "Jerusalem is ours" on the other. Full Story 

    On one end, the scarf says "Palestine"; on the other, "Jerusalem is ours."
    Credit: Neil Aquino

  • What Does Debra Want?

    By Elise Hu

    Now that she'll join Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison on stage at the second GOP debate — now that she's cracked spoiler-worthy double digits in the latest poll and will fundraise, Ron Paul-style, through an online "money bomb" — it's fair to ask what longshot gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina is in it for. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmerich

  • Mapping the Money Race

    By Matt Stiles

    To better understand the geography of the money race, we mapped the candidates' contributions by city, using graduated symbols to highlight their most lucrative areas. The bubbles in the maps get larger based on the percentage of a candidates' total take. Full Story 

    This map of 2009 fundraising by all the major candidates in the governor's race shows proportional bubbles based on the percentage of contributions collected from a city.
    Credit: Matt Stiles