2006 Montgomery County Election Recap (12-06)

 

In 2006 the Republican Party suffered a setback at the national level that extended into Texas with the loss of two U. S. House of Representative seats: Tom Delay in District #22 and Henry Bonilla in District #23. The contest for the control of the U. S. Congress was very close. Eighteen (18) U. S. House of Representatives seats were decided by less than 5,000 votes each and three (3) U. S. Senate seats were decided by two (2) percent or less of the vote. The Democrat margin of control in the U. S. Senate will be one (1) seat and in the U. S. House of Representatives the margin will be thirty (30) seats.

 

The losses were not unprecedented. In FDR’s sixth year in 1938, Democrats lost seventy-one seats in the House and six in the Senate. In Eisenhower’s sixth year in 1958, Republicans lost forty-seven House seats and thirteen in the Senate. In JFK/LBJ’s sixth year in 1966, Democrats lost forty-seven House seats and three in the Senate. Even in Ronald Reagan’s sixth year, Republicans lost five House seats and eight Senate seats.

 

Montgomery County Republicans could do little to alter the outcome of these elections. In Montgomery County, every Republican candidate on the ballot was victorious at the State, District and County level.

 

  • There were 81,970 (36.40% turnout) votes cast in the County out of a total voter registration of 225,179.
  • Early voting turnout was 31,749 or 14.10% of registered voters and election-day turnout was 50,221 or 22.30%.
  • Straight Republican votes in the County numbered 30,263 or 36.92% of the 81,970 votes cast.
  • State-wide, a total of 4,399,068 votes were cast in the race for Governor out of a total voter registration of 13,074,279, resulting in a statewide voter turnout percentage of 33.65%. This was 2.75% less than the county-wide turnout of 36.40%. If the 32,788 voters on the County’s Suspense List were excluded, the county-wide turnout would be 42.61%.
  • In the1998 gubernatorial election, the county-wide turnout was 32.9% and in the 2002 gubernatorial election it was 38.3%.
  • Since 1998, Montgomery County has exceeded the statewide turnout percentage due largely to the Party’s aggressive Get-Out-The-Vote program.

 

State Level

 

  • Texas outdid many other states by electing Republicans to all sixteen state-wide offices, increasing the number of seats in the Texas Senate to twenty (20-one short of a two-thirds majority), maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives with eighty-one (81) seats (a net loss of six {6} seats) and electing two hundred (200) new Republican candidates to local and district office.
  • Republicans made gains in ninety-five (95) counties while Democrats made gains in only seventeen (17) counties.
  • Republicans hold 119 (46.85%) County Judgeships and 401 County Commissioner (39.47%) seats.
  • Republicans now have a majority on one hundred (100) County Commissioner Courts (39.37%), a gain of twenty (20) counties.
  • One hundred (100) counties (39.37%) now have Republican Sheriffs.

 

District Level

 

  • District #8 U. S. House of Representative, Kevin Brady of The Woodlands, handily won re-election with 67.27 % of the vote (105,665) in this multi-county district. In Montgomery County he received 59,765 votes (75.59%). This County total of 59,765 was 56.56% of the district-wide vote total.
  • Robert Nichols of Jacksonville was elected State Senator in District #3 without opposition. He received 119,629 votes district-wide and 27,458 in the County, which was 22.95% of the district-wide vote.
  • State Representative District #15, Rob Eissler of The Woodlands, was re-elected by defeating his Democrat and Libertarian opponents with 73.33% (30,880) of the vote. 43,890 votes were cast in the District, a 38.01 % voter turnout.
  • Brandon Creighton of Conroe was elected State Representative in District #16 by defeating his Democrat opponent with 75.04% of the vote (23,945). 33,691 votes were cast in the District, a 36.69% voter turnout.
  • State Representative District #18, John Otto of Dayton, who represents six (6) voting precincts in East Montgomery County along with Liberty and Polk counties, defeated his Libertarian opponent with 76.00% of a district-wide vote total of 19,153. His vote total of 2,843 in Montgomery County represented 14.84% of the district-wide total.
  • Justices of the 9th Court of Appeals, David Gaultney and Hollis Horton, were re-elected without opposition. Gaultney received 132,786 votes in the District and 62,043 votes in Montgomery County while Horton received 132,143 votes in the District and 61,730 in the County. The County totals represented over 46% of the District total in each race.

 

County Level

 

  • U. S. Senator Hutchison received the highest number of votes of any of the sixteen (16) state-wide Republican candidates on the County ballot- 60,593 votes.
  • The Governor’s race attracted the highest number of voters-80,822
  • Court of Criminal Appeals Justice, Barbara Hervey, received the highest percent of the vote (85.25%) of the sixteen (16) state-wide candidates on the ballot.
  • The average winning percent of the vote for the state-wide Republican candidates on the ballot was 76.19%.
  • Supreme Court Justice Democrat candidate, William E. “Bill” Moody, received the highest percent of the vote (26.63%) of the ten state-wide Democrat candidates on the ballot.
  • The average percent of the total vote for the ten state-wide Democrat candidates on the ballot was 22.23%.
  • Governor Perry received 41,066 votes, a majority of the total vote at 50.81%. Montgomery County was the only one of the top fifteen counties to give the Governor a majority vote.
  • Of the twenty-five (25) counties that gave the Governor a majority vote, Montgomery County cast the most votes for the Governor, 41,066. Smith County came in second with 23,695 votes.
  • Democrat gubernatorial candidate, Chris Bell, received 11,700 votes (14.48%), good for a fourth place finish.
  • District Clerk Barbara G. Adamick received the highest number of votes (62,854) of any of the eleven (11) county-wide Republican candidates on the ballot, followed by County Clerk Mark Turnbull with 62,743 votes, District Judge Suzanne Stovall with 62,684, County Court at Law Judge Mary Ann Turner with 62,555 votes and County Court at Law Judge candidate, Patrice McDonald, with 62,487 votes.
  • District Judge Cara Wood defeated her opponent, the first Democrat candidate for District Judge since 1992, with 71.82% (55,489) of the vote after a spirited campaign.
  • County Judge Alan Sadler was easily re-elected by defeating his Libertarian opponent with 84.17% (59,556) of the vote.
  • After winning the Republican Primary and Runoff elections, incumbent County Commissioner Precinct #4, Ed Rinehart, defeated his Democrat opponent with 64.58% (8,766) of the vote. 14,197 votes were cast in the Precinct, a 28.55% voter turnout.
  • The twenty-five voting precincts with the highest voter turnout percent (includes Voter Suspense List) were:         

 

Rank           Pct.                                                Turnout % Total List                         % Perry Vote

 1             72 Bentwater                                                      69.97                               66.98

 2             5  Longstreet                                                      58.54                               25.76

 3             77 April Sound                                                   53.69                               61.53

 4            43 Panorama                                                       52.85                               50.85

 5            63 Walden/Del Lago                                            51.14                               59.79

 6             75 College Park                                                 49.41                               55.84

 7            15 River Plantation                                               49.25                               62.05

 8            58 Cochrans Crossing Central                              47.69                               58.46

 9             50 Willis West 46.56                               54.07

10            40 Conroe North Loop 44.90                               58.18

11            33 Grogans Mill North                                          44.57                               51.10

12            34 Lakewood                                                      44.53                               54.86

13             6 Oak Ridge                                                      44.02                               52.36

14            48 Panther Creek North                                        43.80                               53.51

15            70 Bear Branch                                                   43.51                               56.53

16            59 Cochrans Crossing North                                 43.23                               60.34

17            73 Conroe South Loop South                               42.62                               51.42

18            49 Cochrans Crossing 42.45                               46.96

19            69 Alden Bridge                                                  42.23                               56.28

20            81 West Alden Bridge North                                 41.88                               56.73

21            38 Cape Conroe                                                  41.69                               54.39

22            76 Old Conroe Road                                           41.61                               52.73

23            31 Shenandoah                                                   41.58                               52.31

24            61 Indian Springs                                                41.07                               53.19

25            62 Research Forest                                             40.66                               53.54

 

  • Twenty-three of the eighty-five precincts had a lower turnout percent than the county-wide turnout percent of 36.40.
  • Twenty-six precincts had a turnout percent greater than 40%.
  • Thirty-eight precincts exceeded the 50.81% of the vote cast for Governor Perry in the County.
  • Four of the top turnout twenty-five precincts were not included in the precincts walks and distribution of GOTV door hangers.