A Look At The Election Results

Although a power outage at the vote count HQ cramped the style of those of us clicking “REFRESH” all night (and that of many more election workers), some of us decided to go to bed right after the early vote came out. As of this morning, it looks like folks in Houston will need to return for a run-off, while in Alief, the results on the bond and school board seem finalized as they do not require a run-off.

Alief ISD voters, all 5000+ of them, approved 3 of the 4 bonds, with the stadium bond going down in flames, 47-53. The other sports-related bond seems to have passed by less than 100 votes. The biggest bond, which would go to improve and build facilities won overwhelming support from the voters, as did the technology bond. It would seem that voters, at least the 5000+ who voted, knew their priorities and less than $20 million in stadium improvements were not a part of it.

In Alief ISD board races, Darlene Breaux will return after handily defeating Debby Pepper. Harvey Anh Tong earned over 45% of the vote to earn his place on the board. Incumbent Jennifer Key returns to her position after a huge win. And with 56% of the vote, Gregg Patrick, a local pastor, will take his place on the board.

So, yes, I went 3 of 4 on the bond, although I was also iffy on the stadium, and I went 0 for 4 on the board races. It seems the 5000+ who cared enough to vote want the status quo. As long as they don’t mess things up, I guess, right?

At HISD, it looks like run-offs are the order of the day with District I’s Elizabeth Santos taking on Janette Garza Lindner; Sue Deigaard (V) just missed the 50% mark and will take on right-wing-supported Caroline Walter; Holly Flynn Vilaseca (VI) will need to take on Kendall Baker after a surprisingly tight race; and Ann Sung (VII) is also headed for a run-off after a 2nd place finish against her main and well-funded opponent Bridget Wade. Meanwhile, Myrna Guidry (IX) will take her place on the board after finishing with 60% of the vote.

In HCC District 3, Adriana Tamez defeated Brandon Cofield, while Eva Loredo will be in a run-off with Jharett Bryantt in District 8. Meanwhile, since no one stepped up in District 6, the bigoted Dave Wilson will return to the board probably earning more complaints and stepping up his right-wing whining.

In San Antonio’s special election in HD-118, Democrat Frank Ramirez was defeated by vendido republican Lujan. Will the results change in 2022 when they do this all over again? We shall see. The race had 11% turn-out.

Austin defeated a measure that would “super” fund the Austin police department. That’s a good thing.

While there were some great victories in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, NYC, Boston and other places, the results in Virginia were pretty sad. A state which went 20% for Biden over Trump handed Democrats a stingingly close loss. When you have a recycled Dem dude at the top of the ballot…well, anyway. Democrats refuse to learn how to take on racist republicans. I think all this squeamishness started when Hillary Clinton apologized for calling the racists “deplorables,” thinking she could earn their votes. Anyway…

Regarding the power outage in Harris County, I agree with Kuff that these glitches give the County a chance to fix things so we can avoid them when everyone shows up next November. Election chief Isabel Longoria deserves some kudos for testing the whole system to ensure nothing was lost in the process before releasing vote counts; however, those who suffered were the precinct and alternate judges who were delivering their equipment to the counting station. Democracy can suck sometimes and those folks who work a 12-hour day at voting locations deserve a lot more than our thanks.

Anyway, stay tuned for the upcoming fireworks in the HISD run-offs. Although it’s all about turn-out, there is bound to be some deep reaches into opposition research in an attempt to change one or two minds.