Molly Cook & HCAD Runoffs

There were elections in Harris County yesterday.

Molly Cook easily defeated State Rep. Jarvis Johnson to win the right to serve out the remainder of former Senator John Whitmire's term. Whitmire is now Mayor of Houston.  

This is good. Rep. Johnson has served in a variety of offices over a number of years with little concern for voter turnout, or much else beyond business us usual. 

The election for the full term beginning next January is May 28. Let's keep Senator-elect Cook in the seat & then hold her accountable starting the next day. Ms. Cook has stressed her role as an organizer with issues such as opposition to the expansion of I-45 as a big part of her campaign. There will be plenty of need for organizing in the challenging days ahead.   

In the voting for the three newly-created Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) seats, Democrat Kathy Blueford-Daniels won outright while the other two spots will go to a runoff.    

Melissa Noriega will be the Democrat for Place 2 and Pelumi Adeleke is the Democrat in Place 3. Both Ms. Noriega and Ms. Adeleke will be facing Republicans. Ms. Noriega's opponent, Kyle Scott, is an election-denier.

These clear Republican against Democrat match-ups are a fine opportunity for elected Democrats in safe seats to campaign or offer resources to the two Democrats.  
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Every elected Republican who does not expressly repudiate election-denial and Donald Trump, is part of the infrastructure of authoritarianism.

HCAD runoff Election Day is June 15.

(I don't know the specifics, but I'm told by folks who would know that the results for the Katy ISD Board went well. Thanks to everyone who did the work in Katy.)    
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Support Molly Cook on May 28 so she can begin to organize for and support the HCAD slate on May 29. Vote for Ms. Noriega and Ms. Adeleke on June 15, and then insist they show up for democracy as needed all the way to November and beyond.

Anybody running for elected office in this political and social climate is signing up for the full deal. Rank & file citizens of Harris County who care about democracy, have a right to ask the people who represent them to be prepared to do whatever needed for the fights in 2024 and beyond.            
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The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County.  

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