MONTGOMERY COUNTY 2002 ELECTION RECAP

The Republican Party is the majority Party in Texas!

Election victories due to:

• Increased turnout in Republican areas led by much improved GOTV programs by State Party and MCRP.
• Failure of Democrat turnout program- every new Democrat minority voter was matched by one new Republican voter in E. Texas.
• Outstanding Republican candidates up & down ballot.
• Effective TV ad campaigns mounted by top of Republican ticket and by the MCRP.
• Effective campaigning by President Bush.
• Fair redistricting plans of 2001.

Summary of returns in Montgomery County:

• Total voter turnout was 75,058, a 45.2 % turnout excluding the Suspense List and a 38.3 % turnout including the Suspense List. The 38.3 % turnout exceeded the statewide turnout percent by about 3 %.
• 41.8 % (31,342) of the 75,058 voters cast a straight Republican vote.
• 74,219 voted in the race for Governor and 74,204 voted in the race for Lt. Governor.
• The 57,743 votes cast for Governor Perry in the county represents 2.21 % of the Governor’s statewide total of 2.6 million votes.
• The 54,504 votes cast for Lt. Governor-elect Dewhurst in the county represents 2.34 % of Dewhurst’s statewide total of 2.3 million votes.
• Comptroller Carole Rylander received the most votes in the county of any of the sixteen statewide candidates, 60,923 votes (82.6 %).
• Land Commissioner-elect Jerry Patterson received the fewest votes in the county, 52,725 (72.6 %), 35,725 more votes than former Democrat State Senator David Bernsen.
• Highest percent of the county’s vote total by a Democrat statewide candidate was John Sharp’s 24.4 % for Lt. Governor.
• The average percent of the county’s vote total for the sixteen Republican statewide candidates was 77.2%.
• The average percent of the county’s vote total for the sixteen Democrat statewide candidates was 20.9 %.
• In District races, Congressman Kevin Brady (CD-8) received the highest percent of the votes in his race than any other contested Republican on the ballot, 93.0 %.

• 48.1 % of the district-wide vote (114,483) in Republican Steve McKeithen’s win of the Chief Justice seat on the 9th Court of Appeals was delivered by Montgomery County (55,012 votes); 34.4 % of the district-wide vote (96,938) in Republican Tommy William’s win of the State Senate Distict #4 seat was delivered by Montgomery County (33,373 votes).
• Van Brookshire of San Jacinto County, Republican candidate for the District 2 Congressional seat held by Democrat Jim Turner, won the District’s portion of the county with 65.9 % of the vote, but lost district-wide.
• Eddie Shauberger of Liberty County, Republican candidate for the House District 18 seat held by incumbent Dan Ellis of Polk County, won the District’s portion of the county with 60.1 % of the vote, but lost district-wide.
• District Judge Suzanne Stovall received the highest number of votes of any of the county-wide candidates with a total of 60, 700, followed by District Judge Olen Underwood with 60, 304 votes, District Judge-elect Kathleen Hamilton with 60,180, County Court at Law #4 Judge-elect Mary Ann Turner with 60,017 and County Clerk Mark Turnbull with 60,007 votes.
• Incumbent Republican County Commissioner Precinct #2, Craig Doyal won re-election with 84.2 % of the vote and incumbent Republican County Commissioner Precinct #4, Ed Rinehart won re-election with 72.6 % of the vote.
• Republican Lanny Moriarty won the Justice of the Peace #1 race with 81.7 % of the vote.
• The county’s fifteen voting precincts with the highest voter turnout percent (includes Suspense List) are:

Precinct Percent Turnout #72 Bentwater  70.2 %  #5 Longstreet  62.0 % #75 College Park  59.3 % #43 Panorama  58.6 % #77 April Sound  53.9 % #58 Cochrans Crossing Central  53.5 % #15 River Plantation  53.1 % #63 Walden-Del Lago  51.0 % #78 Sterling Ridge  50.0 % #59 Cochrans Crossing North  49.9 % #81 W. Alden Bridge North  49.8 % #48 Panther’s Creek North  49.0 % #62 Research Forest  48.9 % #71 W. Alden Bridge South  48.8 % #70 Bear Branch  48.8 %

• Nine of the fifteen precincts are located in The Woodlands where the Party targeted precincts for walks with distribution of door hangers and four of the fifteen precincts are located in the Lake Conroe area.
• Twenty-four precincts (total of 85 in the county) generated 45 % or greater voter turnout.