Democrats Getting Butt Kicked (So Far) in the ‘Burbs

The Democrats are lagging badly in suburban districts, where they had picked up seats in 2008. In a spot-check of six key races in the ‘burbs, the Dems are trailing in every one. Mostly we have early voting returns at this point but it’s still not a good sign overall… 

The real bad news is that:

    -In an Irving district that Democrats should have won in 2008, challenger Loretta Haldenwang is down 43%-54% to Republican state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown.

    -In Williamson County, north of Austin, Democratic state Rep. Diana Maldonado is trailing Larry Gonzales 38% to 59%.

    -Dem state Rep. Kristi Thibaut of Houston is down a whopping 20 points to GOP challenger Jim Murphy.

The not-quite-as-bad news for Democrats in the ‘burbs is that:

    -Dem state Rep. Paula Pierson lags behind her challenger Barbara Nash, 46% to 51%.

    -Dem state Rep. Robert Miklos is behind Cindy Burkett 47% to 53%.

    -Dem state Rep. Chris Turner – whose former boss Congressman Chet Edwards is doing horribly tonight – is in a close one, trailing former state Rep. Bill Zedler 48.9% to 51.5%.

It’s still early but the Democrats are probably going to lose some serious ground in the Texas suburbs.