Master of Discovery Will Hartnett (R-Dallas) ruled today that Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) won her District 48 seat in the Texas House fair and square. Hartnett declined to recommend a special election as requested by Republican challenger Dan Neil, ruling instead that Howard had won the heavily disputed contest by 4 votes. Hartnett's ruling is nonbinding, however: the Howard/Neil case will now be heard by a House committee and may eventually be voted on by the House itself. Members could still order a special election or choose which representative to seat. Howard continues to act as the current and legally elected representative of HD-48 (Austin). [The Statesman] more ›

Dan Neil is on a mission. The Republican challenger to Rep. Donna Howard's (D-Austin) seat in District 48 contested his loss in the 2010 election and lost, so now he's taken his case to the Texas House. Thanks to the state's Election Code, this week Neil's lawyer Joe Nixon was able to subpoena voters to reveal—under oath—how they voted in November. more ›

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The battle for House District 48 continues. Republican candidate Dan Neil filed papers with the Texas Secretary of State's office Monday, challenging the narrow 12-vote win by Austin Rep. Donna Howard in early November. more ›

Texas Congressman Allan Ritter (D-Nederland) announced Saturday that he will be crossing the aisle to join the Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives. Ritter's shift moves the GOP one seat away from a supermajority—and another Democrat is already considering his options. more ›

Texas Democrats had cause for celebration earlier this week. Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) was able to hold off her Republican challenger, Dan Neil, by a mere 16 votes in the final tally. more ›

Primary results from national/state/local races: So even though it seems that Hillary won the Texas primary (it's interesting that Obama led in statewide early voting), Obama may beat her in delegate numbers. In the GOP race, McCain is now the GOP candidate as Huckabee gives up the ghost. In Travis County, Ron Paul won 17% of the vote . . . more ›

A new group in Austin called W.O.R.D. (Women Organizing to Revive Democracy) is throwing a bash tomorrow evening in support of Chris Bell. The event will feature appearances by State Rep. Donna Howard, slam poet Genevieve Van Cleve, and Liz Carpenter’s Yellow Dog Democrat mask. The goal is to provide a place for local Democratic women to gather, learn more about Chris Bell, and hopefully rally behind him. So break out of your Perry-induced... more ›

The Democratic attorneys challenging the legality of Texas' recently-redrawn congressional districts filed a reply brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday. The brief states that Texas violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by enacting a redistricting law solely to benefit one political party at the expense of another. This brief counters state arguments that say the map was done fairly and with consideration to both political parties. Arguments are set to begin in one... more ›

Truecraig had some thoughts on the shot heard round the world in his column. Mr. Hollywood Jason Patric dropped his suit against the ever-aggressive Austin Police Department. Austin ranks as the second-best city outside of Hollywood in which to make a movie. We checked out the Zuraach Collective and took some photos. AM Syndicate, Nina Simone, Talking Heads...take a listen in AV Bits. It was a busy news week in the Kingdom of George.... more ›

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*image borrowed from www.trilug.org more ›

Lt. Gov. Dewy announced that Feb. 14 will be the runoff election date in the House District 48 race. It will be Democrat Donna Howard against republican Ben Bentzin, and the blood will flow my friends. It's real; it's raw. It's the House District 48 showdown! The governor's race is already getting spicy! Independent candidate Carole Strayhorn says that she is against private school vouchers. In fact, Strayhorn has accused Gov. Ricky of dismantling... more ›

In the race to represent House District 48, Democrat Donna Howard and Republican Ben Bentzin made it through Round One on Tuesday and will meet in a runoff election to see who will replace Todd Baxter in the Texas House. Democrat Kathy Rider and Libertarian Ben Easton finished third and fourth and are now free to vote for Donna Howard. She received 49.5% of the vote, against Bentzin's 37.8 % which might shock some... more ›

Scoop Jackson was kind enough to point this out to us: for those of you residing in House District 48, today's your chance to vote for Todd Baxter's replacement in the Texas House. Baxter resigned last Fall, leaving his seat open to four contenders: Republican Ben Bentzin, Libertarian Ben Easton and Democrats Donna Howard and Kathy Rider. A run-off election will be held later if no one candidate receives a strong majority; the winner... more ›