It’s the one with the one Democratic incumbent running for re-election.
Vince Ryan
Vince Ryan calls himself the Doberman pinscher of Harris County.
The Democrat county attorney campaigned in 2012 as a government watchdog. He cannot point to any “dramatic” instances he has played the part, but said that is the point: deterrence through Doberman-like intimidation.
“A good watchdog, hopefully, doesn’t have to bite anybody,” Ryan said.
As Election Day nears, his Republican opponent, Jim Leitner, has another explanation: a reluctance to investigate government officials. Leitner said he would bring aggressiveness.
“If you’re the watchdog, you’re doing something,” Leitner said.
On Nov. 8, voters will have a chance to re-elect Ryan, 69, for a third term as county attorney, an office political scientists called immensely powerful but poorly understood by the public.
Ryan’s challenger is Leitner, 66, a criminal defense lawyer who studied with Ryan at the University of Houston law school some 40 years ago. Leitner has served in the Harris County District Attorney’s office, but it will be his first time running for county attorney.
The winner will oversee an office of more than 200 employees and represent the county when it is sued, such as the current civil rights lawsuit accusing the county’s bail bond system of discriminating against the poor.
Ryan was endorsed by the Chron, which noted that even his opponent thinks he’s done a pretty good job. Ryan had a bit of a bumpy relationship with Commissioners Court in his first term, but this one has gone much more smoothly. That said, some Democrats are not pleased with his handling of the bail practices lawsuit, which may dampen support for him. On the other side, Leitner’s work in Pat Lykos’ DA office likely means there are still some Republicans who won’t vote for him, as that blood feud will only ever be settled by the sufficient passage of time. Ryan was re-elected by a decent margin in 2012, and I expect him to win without too much difficulty this year. I’ll publish an interview with him in the near future, so you have that to look forward to.
Whenever it’s time to go back to DC to get a real job let me know. Houston is dinosaur graveyard.