Next week, from Monday, May 18 through Friday, May 22, and then again the following Tuesday, May 26, a small minority of Texans will make important decisions for you without even asking.
I’m talking about the runoff elections for those primary races that weren’t clearly decided on primary day back in March. We Banderans may be more aware of this round of voting since the election for County Judge is on the ballot, along with four state races and one federal race.
Perhaps due to the strong local interest in the faceoff for County Judge between Susan Junker and Dennis Fitzgerald, Bandera had a higher primary turnout (32.4%) than the state overall (24%), but it still means that only one out of three registered voters bothered to show up and register an opinion.
Of course, higher profile elections, such as Presidential elections, have a higher turnout, but even then, if two-thirds of registered voters show up at the polls it’s considered outstanding. So if you don’t vote, it’s like the guy ahead of you and the lady behind you in line at HEB get to decide who’s going to represent you in the Texas Legislature and the White House, but you don’t get a say. Is that really okay with you?
Folks have many different reasons for their lack of interest in primary elections, but this attitude may be shifting since the weaponization of the nomination process. While this has led to the word “primary” becoming a verb (our own Governor Abbott loves to threaten to “primary” any unruly legislators who won’t do his bidding), it has also heightened the public’s attention earlier in the nomination process. Primaries used to be the exclusive domain of extremists.
The Democratic primary to choose the nominee for US Senate from Texas, for instance, was an example of what can happen when two outstanding candidates like James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett give the voters a reason to get excited and put some thought into their decision.
Similarly, Senator John Cornyn and current Attorney General Ken Paxton are deep in the mud of their campaigns to represent Republicans in the Senate election in November against Talarico, who defeated Crockett. Interestingly, Donald Trump has chosen not to endorse either one.
Some deeper contrasts are emerging in the GOP during this time of MAGA chaos and loyalty tests, and they seem to be represented in all of the contests on the Republican ballot.
There are what might be seen as traditional/establishment/ institutional conservatives on one hand and populist/hard-right/ MAGA-aligned insurgent conservatives on the other. Cornyn and Paxton fit this template and millions of dollars are being spent on this race.
The race for Railroad Commissioner (really Oil and Gas Commissioner) can also be seen in this light, with Jim Wright the more establishment candidate and Bo French coming from the grassroots MAGA dissatisfaction with GOP leadership.
Or, in the case of the Attorney General race, both candidates are MAGA- aligned but Mayes Middleton represents machine- building hard-right power politics while Chip Roy presents himself more as a constitutional conservative and policy fighter.
Even the runoff for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3, pits the more experienced and traditional appellate law specialist, Alison Fox, against Thomas Smith, supported by the activist legal populist conservatives who emphasize aggressive prosecution and ideological alignment.
My reason for going into this kind of detail about the six races you will see on your ballot when you go to the polls next week is partly because I will be casting a ballot in the Republican primary runoff. Though I am an independent voter, I chose the Republican primary ballot because the differences between the GOP candidates is the place I can have the most impact as a voter in this Republican- dominated state.
While I will hitch my wagon of hopes to James Talarico in November, if there’s anything I can do to keep Ken Paxton out of the US Senate ahead of the game, I want to do it. Similarly, learning more about the other races has given support to my belief that experience, training and a thoughtful approach is what I seek in candidates from either party. I’m not impressed by the culture- warring, cruel and dishonest MAGA candidates.
Moderate Republicans, who have been hiding in the garage hoping Trump and MAGA go away soon, should be encouraged to know that there are votes they can cast right now that will support many of their beliefs in the long run. They don’t have to sit out the elections!
In case I’ve persuaded you to consider voting in the runoff election next week or on May 26, here are the rules: if you voted in the primary, you must vote in the runoff of the same party you voted for in March. If you did not vote in the primary, you can vote in either party’s runoff, and this does not obligate you to vote for any particular party in November.
To view a sample ballot and learn more about the candidates, visit Ballotpedia. org or ask a question of your favorite AI chatbot (mine is ChatGPT).
This is not a good time in our nation’s history for We, the People to lay back and let the tide of other people’s opinions carry us along. You might not like where we end up.
Susan Hull is a retired clinical psychologist, a horse trainer and an Independent voter. She believes we will emerge from the rapids with a stronger and more interdependent nation, because giving a damn is contagious.
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