Texas gubernatorial election, 2006

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The 2006 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2006 to select the next governor of the state of Texas, who will serve a four year term starting on January 20, 2007. The Republican and Democratic Parties chose their candidates by primaries and convention. Primaries were held on March 7, 2006, with the winner of each requiring a majority vote. The Libertarian Party chose their candidate by caucuses held at various locations around the state and convention in Houston, Texas. By law, all parties in Texas must hold their political conventions in the month of June, then deliver to the Secretary of State a certified list of their candidates. The Democratic, Libertarian, and Green Parties held their convention on the weekend of June 9 through June 11, 2006, while the GOP met a week earlier on the weekend of June 2 through June 4.

Only a plurality was required to win the general election (see Article 4 Section 3 of the state constitution).

The race was a six person affair involving:

In order to qualify for the ballot, both independent candidates and the write-in candidate had to obtain enough valid signatures. Both Strayhorn and Friedman submitted signatures to the Texas Secretary of State, who announced that each and every signature will be checked for validity (in protest, Strayhorn contended that this is a tactic by Perry – her bitter political enemy – to keep her off the November ballot). Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams validated the candidacies of Strayhorn and Friedman on June 22nd.[1]

[edit] Candidates listed on the November ballot

Contents

[edit] Republican Party

[edit] Democratic Party

[edit] Independents

[edit] Libertarian Party

  • James Werner - Sales Consultant.

[edit] Former candidates and possible write-in candidates

[edit] Democrats

Another potential candidate, middle school administraor Felix Alvarado, was excluded from the Democratic primary ballot when his check for the party's required $3,750 filing fee bounced. [2]

[edit] Independents

In addition, four independent candidates and Jerry Larson (the endorsed candidate of the Green Party) did not submit enough signatures to qualify for ballot access, nor did Larson qualify as a write-in candidate.

[edit] Background

[edit] Perry

Incumbent Governor Rick Perry was elevated to the position in late 2000 from Lieutenant Governor upon the election of then-Governor George W. Bush as President of the United States. Perry was subsequently elected Governor in his own right in 2002 and ran for a second full term in 2006.

Perry's overall poll ratings have plummeted since the 2002 election, plagued by budget woes, battles over school financing reform, and a contentious and controversial redistricting battle. Perry's approval rating dropped to 38% during the latter part of the 2005 legislative session. Perry then improved from this position, more recently holding a 44% approval rating, with 51% disapproving, as of a September 2006 poll.[3] Governor Perry joined only two other Texas governors to achieve the office by a plurality of less than 40%. The Texas Governor Elections of 1853 and 1861 both won with less than 40% of the vote.

Despite the weak polling numbers, Perry had the support of the Republican Party of Texas. According to Perry's campaign website, Perry gained 142 separate endorsements. Perry had endorsements from virtually the entire Texas Republican Congressional delegation (all but two members), every other Republican statewide officeholder (except Strayhorn and judicial officeholders; the latter by law cannot endorse political candidates), 51 of the 62 members of the Texas Republican Party executive committee (it should be mentioned, however, that someone on the executive committee is in danger of removal for supporting someone other than his/her party's nominee), and nearly every major Texas pro-business, fiscal conservative, and social conservative organization and political action committee. Perry even managed to gain the endorsement of the Teamsters Union, notwithstanding Texas's strong right to work laws.

Perry won re-election with 39% of the vote, leading some to speculate that he might have been defeated had it not been for the two independent candidates dividing the votes of those who disapproved of his leadership.

[edit] Friedman

Kinky Friedman contemplates a question from the audience at a campaign rally in Bastrop, Texas.
Kinky Friedman contemplates a question from the audience at a campaign rally in Bastrop, Texas.

Kinky Friedman, an independent candidate, gained a good amount of popular support among Texas voters. He claimed that country-music lovers, college students, animal lovers, ranchers, and anyone who didn't vote in the last election were among his supporters, though he didn't win many of them on election day.

By Independence Day, Friedman passed Democrat Chris Bell in a few polls, which he didn't keep up. His website claimed that "he doesn't put much stock in unscientific political polls among "likely" voters, saying, "It's Kinky Friedman versus apathy". Friedman stated during that the campaign that he was going after the 71% who didn't make it to the polls in 2002.

Friedman was haunted by racially insensitive statements that were made, both during the campaign and during comedy routines twenty years ago.

Although Friedman did briefly enjoy a high standing in the polls, and though much was made of his wide support among young and disillusioned voters, his campaign appeared to fizzle out as Election Day drew near, and he ultimately finished a distant fourth with under 13% of the vote.

[edit] Bell

Chris Bell, a former Congressman from Houston, is best known for filing an ethics complaint against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as a lame duck who had been defeated in his party's primary after the controversial mid-decade redistricting in the state. Bell announced his run in July 2005, long before the other major candidates.

Bell's official strategy was to get Democrats to unite behind and vote for a Democrat, predicting (and betting on) a splintering of the Republican vote among Perry, Strayhorn, and Friedman, giving the Democrats the needed plurality to win the election. [4] Running on a platform of ethics reform and education issues, he stayed with the pack of three candidates with better name recognition. After a good debate performance, his poll numbers improved significantly to where he had taken second place in nearly every poll afterward.

Chris Bell finished the election with 30% of the popular vote, which was higher than he had polled at any point prior to the election.

[edit] Strayhorn

Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, was initially pegged as running in a potentially contentious three-way Republican primary battle with bitter rival Governor Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Hutchison declined to run for governor in late 2005, instead opting to run for re-election to the Senate. This left Strayhorn and Perry vying for the GOP nomination. Believing her chances to be better running as an independent and appealing directly to voters, rather than those of the Republican Party first, she announced her intent to challenge him in the general election instead. Had she run in the primary, the December 2005 Scripps Howard Texas Poll of match ups had Perry in the lead against Strayhorn by a 55%-24% margin.

However, candidates not associated with a major political party have had a hard time garnering support (only one independent candidate, Sam Houston, has ever become Governor of Texas).

Although a few polls had her tied for second going into Election day, she finished with 18% of the vote, 12% behind Bell and 21% behind Perry.

[edit] Werner

James Werner was the Libertarian Party candidate. According to Werner's campaign website, he has a Masters degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the University of California, a Bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University and is currently working for an Austin-based educational software company.

Werner previously ran for Congress in 2004 as the Libertarian nominee. Contending for the 25th District, he garnered 1.7% of the vote.

[edit] Dillon

James "Patriot" Dillon was the only announced write-in candidate, according to information from the Texas Secretary of State's office.

[edit] Requirements for independent gubernatorial candidates

It is difficult for an independent gubernatorial candidate to gain ballot access in the state of Texas. The election law, summarized briefly, requires the following:

  • The candidate must obtain signatures from registered voters, in an amount equalling at least one percent of the total votes cast in the prior gubernatorial election. For the 2006 ballot, this would require 45,540 signatures. (This is also the number of signatures required for a third party to gain ballot access, which only the Libertarian Party has done.)
  • The signatures must come from registered voters who did not vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries or in any runoff elections for Governor.
  • The signatures must come from registered voters who have not signed a petition for any other independent candidate. In other words, a Strayhorn supporter cannot also sign Friedman's petition, nor vice versa. If a supporter signed more than one petition, only the first signature counts.
  • The signatures must be obtained within 60 days following the primary election; the window is shortened to 30 days if a runoff election for either party's gubernatorial candidate is required. In 2006, neither party had a runoff election for Governor; therefore, the candidates had the full 60 days – until May 11, 2006.

In the event a candidate does not qualify for independent status, they may still run as a write-in candidate. The candidate must pay a $3,750 filing fee and submit 5,000 qualified signatures. However, the filing cannot take place any earlier than July 30, nor later than 5:00 PM on August 29.

[edit] Election results

Texas general election, 2006: Governor[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Rick Perry (incumbent) 1,716,803 39.03 -18.78
Democratic Chris Bell 1,310,353 29.79 -10.17
Libertarian James Werner 26,748 0.61 -0.86
Independent Richard “Kinky” Friedman 546,869 12.43
Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn 797,577 18.13
Write-in James “Patriot” Dillon 718 0.02
Majority 406,450 9.24
Turnout 4,399,068 -3.40
Republican hold

[edit] Polling

Source Date Bell (D) Friedman (I) Perry (R) Strayhorn (I) Werner (L) Margin of Error (+/-)
WSJ/Zogby October 31, 2006 28.5% 14.4% 36.7% 15% 2.1% 2.9%
Houston Chronicle/KHOU October 29, 2006 22% 10.5% 38% 21% 1% 3.2%
Rasmussen October 27, 2006 25% 12% 36% 22% ** 4.5%
SurveyUSA October 24, 2006 26% 16% 36% 19% 1% 4.3%
WSJ/Zogby October 19, 2006 26.2% 13.2% 37.5% 13% 3.9% 3%
Dallas Morning News October 5, 2006 15% 14% 38% 18% ** 3.5%
WSJ/Zogby September 25, 2006 22.3% 18.9% 33% 15.5% 1.5% 2.6%
Survey USA September 19, 2006 23% 23% 35% 15% 2% 4.3%
Rasmussen September 13, 2006 18% 16% 33% 22% ** 4.5%
WSJ/Zogby September 5, 2006 25.3% 22.4% 30.7%* 11.1% 2.6% 2.9%
WSJ/Zogby August 28, 2006 23.1% 22.7% 34.8% 9.6% ** **
Rasmussen August 9, 2006 18% 18% 35% 18% ** 4.5%
Rasmussen July 24, 2006 13% 19% 40% 20% ** 4.5%
WSJ/Zogby July 24, 2006 20.8% 20.7% 38.3% 11% ** **
Survey USA June 26, 2006 20% 21% 35% 19% ** 4.2%
WSJ/Zogby June 21, 2006 19.7% 17.5% 37.7% 14.1% ** **
Rasmussen June 12, 2006 14% 20% 38% 19% ** 4.5%
Survey USA May 22, 2006 18% 16% 41% 20% ** 4.1%
Survey USA April 26, 2006 15% 16% 39% 25% ** 4.2%
Rasmussen April 20, 2006 17% 15% 40% 19% ** 3%
WSJ/Zogby March 30, 2006 20.7% 16.6% 36.3% 19% ** **
Dallas Morning News February 18, 2006 19% 10% 36% 16% ** 3%
Rasmussen February 14, 2006 13% 9% 40% 31% ** 4.5%
Rasmussen January 5, 2006 14% 12% 40% 21% ** 4.5%

* denotes polling result winner is within the margin of error

** denotes data was not reported by the pollster

[edit] See also

Texas 2006 Elections
Main Page • US Senate • US House • Governor • State Legislature

[edit] External links

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3993429.html
  2. ^ http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/20alvarado.html
  3. ^ Results of SurveyUSA News Poll #10269. SurveyUSA. Retrieved on January 2, 2007.
  4. ^ Stanford, Jason. "3 Republicans, 1 Democrat"". 2 January 2006. Accessed 26 March 2006.
  5. ^ 2006 General Election. Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Retrieved on January 2, 2007.


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