The Ayes of Texas
Published November 4, 2014 12:22 AM
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Updated March 31, 2017 2:22 PM
1 Min Read
Attorney General Greg Abbott defeated state Sen. Wendy Davis Nov. 4 with 59.3% of the vote. It was the first election for an open governor's seat since 1990 and follows Gov. Rick Perry's record 14-year tenure.
Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick meets rival Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte Sept. 29 for a debate in their race for lieutenant governor. Patrick defeated Van de Putte with 58% of the vote after knocking off incumbent Lieut. Gov. David Dewhurst in the primary.
Debate moderator Paul Brown, left, poses questions for Texas Comptroller candidates Glenn Hegar, center, and Mike Collier in the candidates only debate Oct. 29. Collier, a certified public accountant and former oil executive, garnered less than 38% of the vote to Hegar's 58% as Republicans swept the state's top offices in the Nov. 4 election.
Trucks involved in hydraulic fracturing of shale plays ply the crumbling roads of South Texas as production in the state booms. Texas voters approved Proposition 1, providing as much as $1.7 billion annually from the state rainy day fund to road maintenance in oil-producing regions of the state.
Austin voters on Nov. 4 rejected $600 million of tax revenue for the capital citys first light rail line and $400 million for street projects with 58% opposed. Voters barely rejected a similar proposal in 2000.
Austin Community College won voter approval of $386 million of bonds for its growing system, including the Highland Campus that is a redesigned former shopping mall. The bonds were contained in three propositions that passed with 57% approval on the first and second and 50.2% on the third.
After voters shot down a $60 million stadium proposal in 2013, Katy Independent School District came back with a slightly less expensive proposal as part of a $748 million bond package. This time, more than 55% of the voters approved the bond package.
Lone Star Community College District north of Houston won $485 million of bonds on Nov. 4, a year after voters rejected a similar proposal by a narrow margin. A Tea Party campaign doomed the previous effort, even though the bonds would not have required a tax increase.
