Exactly a week after an “extreme” showing of conservative clout and solidarity, we found out today in Austin that conservative Dan Neil lost his run for the Texas House by a mere sixteen votes. This is one vote more than before the recount. More stunning is that Mr. Neil still came up short by such razor thin margins after provisional and overseas votes were counted.
If anyone wants to know if their votes matter, this particular election is a billboard for the mantra that every vote counts. Texas House District 48 is a conservative district with a moderate template. What could have been done differently? Well, for starters, spoiler Ben Easton running as a Libertarian received more than 1500 votes – an eye-popping number considering that Neil lost by only 16 votes.
I’m all for Independent candidates, but, when said candidate has run for the same office numerous times and has not garnered a significant electorate, they should graciously bow out during those clutch elections such as the 2010 race between Neil and Howard. For Easton to throw his hat in the ring this particular time only to steal away precious votes that would have gone to Neil except for the loyalty of close friends and family who threw away the power of their vote to check Easton over Neil, was a wasted opportunity for our district. Surely, Easton would have preferred Neil over Howard himself. I suppose he didn’t find the idea of her being re-elected again repulsive enough to give Neil a better chance. And, that is a shame.
The Dan Neil Donna Howard election seems a little fishy to me!
ReplyDeleteOn election night the SOS site showed the libertarian candidate with 600 and some votes but now they are claiming he got over a thousand?