Update: How conservative a paper are you when you endorse Dan Patrick? Really Lubbock? From reading that paper's endorsement of Sam Houston, all Ken Paxton would have had to do was show up and he would have been endorsed. Hell he probably could have driven by, waved, and still gotten the endorsement.
Most people who work on campaigns would probably agree that the larger the race (i.e., president), the less likely an endorsement from a newspaper matters. It probably has a larger impact on those down ballot races that 1) nobody pays attention to and 2) the candidates don't have enough money to get their name before the voters. Having seen candidates win a newspaper endorsement and lose, versus those who don't get the endorsement and win, it's easy to dismiss newspaper endorsements as a meaningless folly. Having said that, campaigns being the competitive things they are, every candidate wants all the support they can get.
So how have these meaningless endorsements gone so far? We'll update this list as more endorsements come in.
Governor
Wendy Davis (D): Austin American-Statesman, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Cosmopolitan, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Greg Abbott (R): Beaumont Enterprise, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Lt. Gov.
Leticia Van de Putte (D): Austin American-Statesman, Beaumont Enterprise, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, El Paso Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Dan Patrick (R): Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Attorney General
Sam Houston (D): Austin American-Statesman, Beaumont Enterprise, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, San Antonio Express-News
Ken Paxton (R):
Comptroller
Mike Collier (D): Austin American-Statesman, Beaumont Enterprise, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Glenn Hegar (R): Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Land Commissioner
John Cook (D):
George Bush (R): Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, San Antonio Express-News
Ag Commissioner
Jim Hogan (D):
Sid Miller (R): Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
No Endorsement: San Antonio Express-News
Railroad Commissioner
Steve Brown (D): Corpus Christi Caller-Times, San Antonio Express-News
Ryan Sitton (R): Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
U.S. Senate
David Alameel (D):
John Cornyn (R): Beaumont Enterprise, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Judicial Races Statewide:
Chief Justice, Supreme Court
William Moody (D):
Nathan Hecht (R): Beaumont Enterprise, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Supreme Court, Place 6
Lawrence Meyers (D):
Jeff Brown (R): Beaumont Enterprise, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Supreme Court, Place 7
Gina Benavides (D): Beaumont Enterprise, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Jeffrey Boyd (R): Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3
John Granberg (D):
Bert Richardson (R): Beaumont Enterprise, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News
Locally, who has the San Antonio Express-News chosen?
Congressional District 20: Joaquin Castro (D)
Congressional District 21: Republican
Congressional District 23: Pete Gallego (D)
Congressional District 28: Henry Cuellar (D)
Congressional District 35: Lloyd Doggett (D)
SBOE: Marisa Perez (D)
Senate District 25: No endorsement
State House District 117: Phil Cortez (D)
Chief Justice, 4th Court of Appeals: Republican
45th District Court: Republican
144th District Court: Republican
150th District Court: Republican
186th District Court: Mary Green (D)
187th District Court: Stephanie Boyd (D)
224th District Court: Republican
227th District Court: Republican
288th District Court: Republican
289th District Court: Republican
290th District Court: Republican
436th District Court: Republican
District Attorney: Republican
County Judge: Nelson Wolff (D)
County Court #1: Al Alonso (D)
County Court #2: Republican
County Court #3: David Rodriguez (D)
County Court #4: Alfredo Ximenez (D)
County Court #5: Republican
County Court #6: Rochelle Acevedo (D)
County Court #7: Republican
County Court #8: Liza Rodriguez (D)
County Court #9: Republican
County Court #10: Tina Torres (D)
County Court #11: Carlo Key (D)
County Court #12: Scott Roberts (D)
County Court #13: Republican
County Court #14: Ernest Acevedo (D)
County Court #15: Michael LaHood (D)
District Clerk: Republican
County Clerk: Republican
Probate Court #1: Barbie Scharf-Zeldes (D)
County Commissioner, Pct. 4: Tommy Calvert (D)
There are still more local endorsements to come, but by my count, that's 21 Democrats versus 19 Republicans. Next time someone complains about the liberal bias in the Express-News remember these endorsements...
The E-N is commendably non-partisan when it comes to judicial races, which should be chosen in non-partisan elections anyway. In non-judicial races, though, they still lean Democrat. By my count, in statewide races, they endorsed 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans. In local races, they endorsed 8 Democrats to 4 Republicans. (I counted the county judge as non-judicial; in Bexar and other larger counties, the county judge is strictly an administrator. Nelson Wolff doesn't hear cases.)
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