It was Ana Hernandez over Laura Salinas in HD143, Sue Lovell over Jay Aiyer in the only close vote in At Large #2, Anne Clutterbuck over George Hittner in District C, Jarvis Johnson (the only runoff candidate to win after coming in second in November) over Felicia Galloway-Hall in District B, Natasha Kamrani over Anne Flores Santiago in HISD1, and Larry Marshall over Daisy Maura in HISD9. Citywide turnout was less than five percent, with only the District C race approaching 10%.
Congratulations to all the winners. I admit to being mildly surprised by Lovell's win, but she had a plan and she executed it well. At the start of the race, I didn't think Kamrani had much of a chance, but the more I learned about that race the better I thought of her odds.
I don't think we've heard the last of most of the candidates who did not win. I'd go so far as to say that Aiyer ought to be considered a frontrunner for one of the two At Large seats that will come open in 2007. Both of the new At Large members this year failed in their first attempt, so there's no reason for Aiyer to be discouraged. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hittner take a shot at one of those seats, either. Laura Salinas said this isn't her last race, and I think Galloway-Hall will also be back.
Greg has some thoughts on At Large #2 and District C. There's not much time to recover from these races before the 2006 season is upon us, so take a breath and let's get ready. Next year is going to be a hot one.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 11, 2005 to Election 2005One quick comment. In At-Large 2, this race wasn't Jay Aiyer vs. Sue Lovell, it was Jay Aiyer vs. the Service Employees Union. SEIU spent over $250,000 in this race, sending 8 pieces of mail for Lovell, and doing thousands of paid phone calls. Without them, this race isn't even close.
Posted by: houtopia on December 11, 2005 12:28 PMAll good, but how about your picks vs. actual results? If we had money on the Kuff slate, would we take home the moolah?
Posted by: Michael Croft on December 11, 2005 6:53 PMWow, $250K, that's a LOT of laundry for a local election! Did DeLay have to spend that much for any one candidate he bought?
Posted by: Merci_me on December 11, 2005 7:24 PMWinners won, losers lost, the campaigns are over and no one is dead and the world keeps turning. If the losers are smart they will call the winners and congratulate them. Tomorrow is another day.
Posted by: Manuel on December 11, 2005 8:10 PMMichael - It'd be easy for me to claim that I'd have called them all correctly, but I would have only attempted to make a call on three races (At Large #2, HD143, and HISD1), two of which I'd have guessed right. Predictions are always best made after the fact.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on December 12, 2005 8:21 AMHoutopia: It's really amazing that so many people in a crowd that becomes apoplectic over Tom DeLay and $190,000 have had NOTHING to say about SEIU pumping a cool quarter of a million into this race, almost certainly with illegal coordination.
It almost makes that crowd look like a bunch of partisan phonies, huh?
Tough election. It's too bad the better candidate lost as a result.
Sometimes the community endorsed candidate wins. She's genuine, her heart is in the right place and we can trust her.
Jay's young, agressive, cocky and talented. He'll be back.
Just out of curiosity, Kevin, have you read any of Greg Wythe's posts on the subject of Sue Lovell and the SEIU? He actually compared her to Tom DeLay. See the link in this post, for example.
I voted for Aiyer twice, as I'm sure you know, though I didn't write about the SEIU stuff other than to note his complaint. Nobody can write about everything, and I don't think I could have topped what Greg was saying. Does that disqualify me from complaining about Tom DeLay in the future? You tell me. Does not writing about the recent problems experienced by the Harris County Sheriff's Department disqualify you from complaining about HPD? Like I said, nobody can write about everything.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on December 12, 2005 12:08 PM
Let's move on folks. Election is over. Don't dispair, 2006 will present ample opportunity to continue eating our own. Gosh, I can hardly wait.
(sarcasm in action....)
Rick