Important Primary Election Results – March 2016
How did the champions of last session’s cannabis bills fare?
Statewide:
Senator Ellis (Houston) – Civil Penalty – Ellis is not up for election this cycle, still in office.
Rep Dutton (Houston) – Decriminalization – Dutton ran unopposed in the Primary and will be on the ballot in November with no Republican opponent.
David Simpson (Longview) – formerly Representative, now running for Senate – Repeal Prohibition – Simpson will be in the runoff election in May (5/16-20/16). Learn more about the Runoff Elections HERE.
Senator Menendez (San Antonio) – Comprehensive Medical Marijuana – Menendez won his primary and will be on the ballot in November with no Republican opponent..
Representative Naishtat (Austin) – Affirmative Defense – Naishtat is not running for re-election. There were 7 Democratic candidates and no Republicans in the Primary Race. Gina Hinojosa won the Primary and will run an opposed in November for an almost guaranteed win. Hinojosa attended Texas NORML’s February Candidate Forum and supports cannabis law reform.
Local:
Sally Hernandez (Austin) – Travis County Sheriff – Hernandez issued a white paper on how she will set forth a policy to de-prioritize arrests for possession in Travis County. She won the Democratic Primary and will be running against Republican candidate, Joe Martinez.
Generic:
In the last few sessions, the only vocal voice supporting cannabition and against cannabis law reform was Sheriff Will Travis from Denton County. Sheriff Travis lost his bid for the Republican candidate for Denton Sheriff. Instead, Tracy Murphree won the Republican Primary. Murphree will be running unopposed in November. There are reports that Murphree will not following in Mr. Travis’ prohibitionist footsteps.
To find out about more results in statewide elections, please visit this website. To learn more about your local elections, check out your local county websites or contact your local NORML chapter.