From the Inbox:
Lane Lewis
It has been 5 years to the month since you first elected me to be your Party Chair.
Over the last 5 years, our social media presence grew and enabled us to deliver our message to thousands more people; our fundraising increased and allowed us to have multiple full time staff all year every year; our mail ballot program went from non-existent to the most recognized in the state; we rebuilt strong relationships with our Union friends and engaged the resources of our Democratic Clubs especially in the suburbs; and we built an approach that the base is paramount and all Democrats need to be engaged regardless of where they live.
All of this came together this year and Democrats swept Harris County.
One of my campaign promises back in 2011 was to see us through the Presidential election of 2016 and I am immensely proud of all we have accomplished together. It is time for someone else to lead the Party and build on the successes we have had together.
Yesterday, I announced to the County Executive Committee of my intention to resign in February 2017.
I will call for a special election sometime in February (date to be announced soon). On that date, I will officially resign and the Precinct Chairs of Harris County will elect a replacement.
Thank you again for the opportunity to serve, but we are not slowing down. We have coming up…
- Early Voting: Dec 5th & 6th, and 10th Anne Sung, HISD Trustee District 7 Runoff (support a great Democrat and clearly the most qualified for the position) and Baytown Councilmember, District No. 3
- Toast to A Blue Year: Thursday, December 8, 2016; 7:00 PM at Sterling House, Free admission for Precinct Chairs (come say thanks to all your 2016 candidates)
- Harris Democrats University: mid-January 2016 (tentative) – (several of our students from the previous HDU won their elections in 2016 and/or worked on successful campaigns)
Thank you all for your support and service these many years!
Here’s the Chron story, which at this time doesn’t have any new information. This was announced at the Sunday CEC meeting, which I missed because I’m lame and had too many other things going on. I think Lewis has done a good job as HCDP Chair. Most people I talk to have a positive opinion of him, and the electoral results have been pretty good. The mail ballot program he instituted has been a success. Most importantly, there has been fairly little infighting, which is always a concern. There are still various fiefdoms within the county (and the state) that do their own thing and make it hard to tell who’s responsible for what – to be fair, I doubt any Chair could change this – and Lewis’ run for City Council in 2013 while still serving as Chair ruffled some feathers and opened questions about conflicts of interest that were never really addressed. I’d like to see the next Chair, whom I will get to help select, deal with that, and I’d like to see a more focused approach to stating and achieving our goals for 2018 and beyond. I will give some thoughts to what I want to see in the next HCDP Chair and write them up in the next few days. In the meantime, I’m sure I’ll be hearing from those who want to be that Chair shortly. My thanks to Lane Lewis for all his hard work at this often thankless job. Enjoy your retirement and best of luck at whatever comes next.
UPDATE: Here’s a later version of the Chron story, which does contain one mention of a potential candidate:
Names of potential successors swirled in Democratic circles Monday, but as of early evening, no one had confirmed an intent to run for what many see as a vital but often thankless post.
Personal injury lawyer Donna Roth, 58, and a thrice-unsuccessful state district judge candidate, said in an email that she is “interested in the position and will be giving it further consideration.”
As I said, I’m sure that interested parties will begin to make themselves known, especially to precinct chairs, in short order.
Lane Lewis couldn’t put together any real policy solutions for working families on his website any of the 2 times he ran for city council.
Lane Lewis did an outstanding job. He was always pleasant, professional, and courteous every time I met him. He totally destroyed the Harris County Republicans and they don’t even know it. They think it was Trump. I wish him and his family the best going forward.
Paul what you write is nice.
If ya’ll need me to be HCDP chair just let me know.
It’ll be just like running for houston city council and state rep… babysitting lawyers, mba’s and industry executives with ideas i googled.