From the inbox:
Debra Kerner
Dear friends:
Today I am announcing that I am suspending my campaign for Congress.
Over the last eight months, I have gotten to know more people in the district. It was my favorite part of the campaign. My profession demands that I be a good listener, and that is just what I was doing. I am convinced that the problems we face – here and in the rest of the country – can be solved.
Unfortunately for me, I spent too much time talking to voters and not enough time talking to donors!
Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars at this point in the race was never part of my plan, and neither was having a field of so many great Democrats. It is a race I did not expect in January 2017 when I decided to make a run for TX-7.
It is up to the voters of TX-7 to find a candidate that is authentic, represents the community that we all love and is able to raise the funds to replicate the win that Hillary Clinton got in this district in 2016. As the SDEC Senate District 17 Committeewoman, I will support the Democratic nominee.
But let us be clear, the only way we win TX-7 is with the support of moderate women.
Some women in this district voted for Clinton and Culberson and those voters should be our target. With a midterm election, there will be a lower turnout, which creates hurdles for everyone. At the end of the day, this seat is winnable if someone employs the correct strategy.
To everyone who supported me, thank you for your trust, time and contributions. It was your confidence that gave me the energy to take on this race. And it is because I feel you deserve a Democrat in Congress in this district that I must exit. For the time being, I will continue my important work in healthcare and education and will continue to help elevate issues that concerned me during the campaign.
Best,
Debby
Kerner was the first new candidate to announce her entry into the race. I touted her to David Nir of Daily Kos Elections, back when everyone was just figuring out that CD07 was an opportunity district, based on the fact that she had won a countywide election in 2008 for HCDE Trustee and the fact that she was generally well known and liked among Dem activists. I’m sad to see her drop out, but I understand and I’m not terribly surprised – she definitely lagged in fundraising, as well as in media attention. The remaining field is strong, and there is every reason to believe that a formidable contender will emerge from the primary. I hope Kerner will consider running for office again when the time is right. Best of luck to you, Debby.
Thank you for your kind remarks. I have been asked to run for other positions, but have not made any decisions.
So basically kerner and the remaining candidates have something in common…
After 8 months they still can’t do something as simple as putting solutions on a website.
So basically kerner and the remaining candidates have something in common…
After 8 months they still can’t do something as simple as putting solutions on a website.
@ Joe:
Did you not read this:
“But let us be clear, the only way we win TX-7 is with the support of moderate women.
Some women in this district voted for Clinton and Culberson and those voters should be our target….”
What is unclear about this strategy? I’m a woman, you are women, vote for me because I’m a woman like you. This is the Madeleine Albright strategy, and though it didn’t carry Hillary over the top, it could work in a low turnout congressional race. The solution is, she’s a woman. Does she really need to say that on a website? Stop trolling.
So, Joe, how did putting ideas on a website work for you? Not well, if I recall correctly.
Ross,
Roughly 10% of houstonians voted for a first time candidate that… published dozens of solutions with no donations.
Awesome.
Then again, Annise Parker ran for office 2-3 times before winning. Then spent 20+ years in city politics and still couldn’t figure out something as simple as paid maternity leave.
Were Joe’s ideas winning ideas? If he were right about that being the key wouldn’t he be in any of the numbers of positions he ran for already?
Burt,
Since the candidates you support are still too lazy to do something as put together basic tax reform solutions. I”ll do the work and let them copy/paste from my website.
ABC (Anybody But Cargas)
If Westin actually put together more/better solutions on his website and stopped talking about trump, i might pay attention.
triantaphyllis platform is a joke
Joe’s spin is always amusing on how poorly he did in the election, a city with over 2.2 million people giving him a little over 11k votes to make him dead last in the race. Perhaps he was using “Bernie Math” in his calculations but there’s no indication that his method of cutting & pasting ideas from other places for his website led to even those few votes. It’s more reasonable that he garnered most votes out of protest or randomly given how low his count was, barely surpassing well known wacko Jimmy Galvan who ran in another at large race. Joe, come back to us when you win a REAL ten percent of Houstonians by virtue of your website alone…lol. Stay dry everyone.
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Steve,
Last I checked I got more votes than 7 of 13 mayoral candidates.
All anyone has to do is compare 2015 city council interviews with the league of women voters to see how dumb candidates really are.
Unfortunately, houston candidates are still too lazy to put ideas on a website and houston voters are still too ignorant to understand something as simple as a $12.27 revenue cap.
Joe, another interesting metric to measure your failure with?!? Seriously, both your race and the mayoral race were citywide races so you drew from the same pool of voters but what you lacked was as many competitors as the mayoral race, only the top 6 running for mayor had any recognition value at all. In your race, you were dead last against 3 other “no-names”, so spin it any way you like but your belief that having a cut & paste website of other people’s ideas makes you superior, a belief you constantly espouse here, just hasn’t measured up. If it mattered to Houston voters, they would have expressed that at the polls and if you think running for state or county office will magically change that, I assure you it will not.
Superior?
I think it’s funny/sad that lawyers, mba’s, etc don’t have any basic solutions for the 4th largest city.
Joe, that is not accurate. What you complain about is that they do not express their ideas the way you think they should, a far cry from not having any. I’m not saying each of them are rocket scientists with regard to public policy but all of them appear to be better versed in getting elected than you have been, a major factor in making a difference.
Good for them.