The Chron makes endorsements in some State Rep races. Here are the ones I’m interested in.
District 126: Cris Hernandez
Two strong candidates who grew up in district are running in the primary and hope to replace Republican Patricia Harless, who is not running for re-election. Cris Hernandez, a projects coordinator for a fiber optics company, is making his second bid for the northwest Harris County district that’s surrounded by Jersey Village, Cypress, Tomball and Spring. In 2014, Hernandez, who described himself as a “policy wonk,” ran as a Libertarian and received 13.7 percent of the vote. Our choice is Hernandez because of his firm grasp of the issues – holding the line on property taxes, equitable funding for Texas public schools and expansion of Medicaid – that will likely come up in the 2017 legislative session. His opponent, Houston attorney Joy Dawson-Thomas has the credentials and the potential to be an influential voice in the district in years to come. The winner of this race will face Republican Kevin Roberts, who is running unopposed.
District 131: Alma A. Allen
Incumbent Alma A. Allen is seeking her seventh term representing this southwest Houston District that includes part of Missouri City, and we believe she well deserves to be returned to Austin. A retired career public school educator who serves as vice chair of the House Education Committee, Allen has been a strong, powerful advocate for children and public education. Her expertise will be especially needed given the anticipated Supreme Court ruling on the way Texas funds its public schools and the possibility of a 2016 special legislative session. Her seniority, wisdom and voice in the education debate will be a plus for residents of House District 131 and greater Houston. Allen’s opponent is businessman John Shike.
Gene Wu
District 137: Gene Wu
When the federal government announced that it would start resettling Syrian refugees in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott looked at the fleeing families and saw a dangerous threat. State Rep. Gene Wu saw his next constituents. His southwest Houston district of Gulfton and Sharpstown might as well be the Ellis Island of Houston, serving as home to the waves of immigrants that come to our nation in search of freedom and safety. Burmese, Afghani, Iraqi, Syrian, Lebanese, Libyans – Wu can tick off the timeline of new arrivals over the past several years. He knows who they are and knows he’ll be there to help. In the Legislature, he worked to pass an important bill that protected children who were victims of human trafficking, directing them to Child Protective Services instead of jail. And as a former Harris County prosecutor, he’s an important figure in the criminal justice debates in Austin. In this race he’s being challenged by attorney Edward Pollard, a self-proclaimed “conservative Democrat” who opposed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.
District 148: Jessica Cristina Farrar
Rep. Jessica Farrar
With 22 years in office, Jessica Farrar has become the 10th most senior state representative in Austin. And now that Sylvester Turner has left Austin for City Hall, Democrats are going to need all the seniority and institutional knowledge they can muster if they want to wage an effective defense against the Republican majority.
Over her 11 terms, Farrar has used her political power to become one of the foremost advocates for women’s issues in the state Legislature. While Farrar has been consistent in her advocacy, her changing north Houston district, which covers Spring Branch East, the Greater Heights, Near Northside and Northline, has brought new challenges to the office. Higher incomes and engaged citizens demand more from her office, and we hope she’s up to the task.
Farrar is being challenged by Dave Wilson, Houston Community College trustee for District II. Wilson told the editorial board that he is running to advocate for the middle class, but voters probably best know him for his anti-gay, anti-abortion stances, and all-around social conservatism.
District 149: Hubert Vo
First elected in 2004, Vo has grown comfortable as an advocate for economic development. He takes pride in supporting the Tier 1 bill that helped push the University of Houston into top ranks – and is still paying dividends as schools like Texas Tech climb the stats. Working to attract new tech companies to Texas, like SpaceX, also sits on his list of accomplishments. If reelected, he said he wants to focus on bolstering the infrastructure around the Port of Houston to accommodate increased trade after the expansion of the Panama Canal.
They call this “Part 1”, but the only Democratic race left to evaluate is in HD144. As such, I suspect Part 2 will be the Republican side, minus the three races they commented on here. In HD126, Joy Dawson-Thomas has so far won all the endorsements from the various clubs that have offered an opinion in this race, which makes me wonder what the Chron saw that they didn’t. Perhaps it was Hernandez’s previous Libertarian candidacy, or perhaps he just didn’t screen with them. As for the incumbents, the case for them all is clear. I’ve begun to hear some chatter that some of their opponents, in particular Dave Wilson and Demetria Smith, are being pushed by Republicans as an exercise in what Karl Rove once called ratf**king. I don’t know how seriously to take that, since Republicans will be plenty busy with their own long slate of contested races (not to mention, you know, the Presidential primary), while Democratic turnout is likely to be high enough to make any such attempt an exercise in futility, but the reward from a GOP perspective of getting one of those clowns nominated is pretty damn big, so a little paranoia is warranted. If only there were a deep-pocketed Democratic donor or two in this town who could write a check for some mailers in support of these candidates. Anyway, pay attention and for goodness’ sake don’t skip out after voting for Hillary or Bernie. The rest of these races matter.
Mr. Kuffner, I would be happy to speak with you anytime about the Chronicle endorsement and the other ones we missed out on. Thank you for mentioning our endorsement. We are all very proud of our hard work here in this campaign to represent the Democratic Party in District 126 on the ballot come November.
Cris Hernandez also picked up the AFL-CIO endorsement.
Ben – You are right, I totally missed that. I’ve updated my 2016 Election page to fix that.
Cris – I’m sorry I have not been able to pay more attention to the HD126 primary. With the short season and the large number of contested races, I’ve had to limit my focus. I wish you good luck, and I look forward to interviewing the winner of that primary in the fall.
District 126 is about 65/35 repub. Really??? Maybe in 2030 it will be competitive.
At first I was impressed that Hernandez took 13% in 2014, but that contest had no Democrat on the ballot. In two other similar contests in 2014 (Wayne Smith and Allen Fletcher) Libertarian and Green candidates respectively polled more than 9%. So I doubt it reflects strength in what Jason points out is a very R district. In 2014 in an obscure Supreme Court contest, the Republican took 67% and the Democrat 30%.
Good evening Mr. Kuffner, I was unable to coordinate a screening time with AFL-CIO, so their decision was based on having met only with Cris. However, Cris and I both screened with Houston Young Democrats, Houston GLBT Political Caucus, Harris County Tejano Democrats and Houston Stonewall Young Democrats. I have also been endorsed by State Representative Dr. Alma Allen. I worked for Dr. Allen during the 81st legislative session, and I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge that will be extremely valuable should my neighbors in district 126 see fit to elect me as their representative.
Isn’t there that kid who is running out here in 126? He is almost like a celebrity out here but I do not know how welcoming people outside of the African American neighborhoods will be of him. I just saw him on TV. He is like the Black Lives Matter leader In Houston. Why is he not mentioned with 126?