And we put it in the headline because, based on some questions we’ve fielded, several of you apparently aren’t clear on that point. Only Primary, Municipal, and Special Elections have run-offs. General Election races do not. Whoever gets the most votes on Nov. 7 will be our new governor – period – even if that candidate has less than 50% of the vote, as will almost certainly be the case this year.
It’s sad, and in my opinion bad, but it’s a fact: We will likely be ruled by a governor who enjoys the support of less than 50% of the electorate. So go vote for Rick/Chris/Kinky/Carole/James now – you won’t get a second chance.
But just to make things confusing, please remember there could be run-offs in five congressional races and two statehouse races. That’s because they are Special Elections. Five of the congressional districts were redrawn by court order in August, which required that the March primary results be thrown out and the races opened up to anyone wishing to enter. (Two Austin-area seats are part of this: District 25, which includes southern Travis County, and District 21, which includes western Travis.) The other three specials are to fill out the unexpired terms, ending in January, of Congressional District 22 (from which Tom DeLay resigned this summer), state Senate District 19 (Frank Madla resigned in May after losing the Democratic primary), and state House District 33 (Vilma Luna resigned in July).
This article appears in October 20 • 2006.