Looking back on it now I have to say that it was probably my best year personally however, but this isn't about me.
It's about you Harris County Texas.
Yes, you. A county that's totally switched party allegiances to the point that the elected Republican will soon be akin to the Dodo within your borders. A county that just elected a 27-year old graduate student with no government experience, and who has never even attended a County Commissioner's meeting to your highest elected position.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
Add to this the continued hegemony of Sylvester "Boss" Turner in the Houston Mayor's office and this has the potential to devolve into quite the mess.
And I'm proud to announce that this blog will (again) be here for it.
For my two remaining readers, welcome back. It's been a while. Yes, my focus will still be on my sports/lifestyle blog for the most part but I can't help but be intrigued by this rising blue wave of ineptitude that's inundated the county in which I reside.
If you're not having a "holy Sh!t!!" moment right now you should, because things are about to get very, very interesting.
So meet Lina Hidalgo your new Harris County Judge.
If it's possible, Harris County now has a more progressive leader than the City of Houston (Turner being more traditional "Crony politicians" than actual "progressive" and you should be ready for a great many things to change.
For his part, Emmett is blaming his loss on straight-party voting and being so far down the ticket. There's probably something to that, but there's also the case that over the past several years his constituent outreach has been....flawed, arrogant and out of touch. He fiddled on top of the Astrodome while Harris County soaked in Harvey floodwaters, he never seemed to take campaigning seriously and, to be honest, he paid the price for it.
Also paying the price? John Culberson, who lost to Lindsey Panill Fletcher, my leader in the clubhouse for "Newly elected public official most likely to disappoint those who voted for her. Ms. Fletcher's campaign was based on "reaching across the aisle" and "finding solutions" but her victory speech already started the pivot to "holding Trump accountable".
Will there be buyer's remorse here? Probably, but the power of incumbency and the fact that Harris County is now solidly Blue might mean that the only way for voters to find a course correction will be in the Democratic primary.
One last thing: On the straight ticket issue. It's going to be easy for the Harris County GOP to try and lay this issue solely at the feet of the National media, their fawning over "Beto" O'Rourke and straight ticket voting. Emmett already has.
The flaw in this thinking can be found in Congressional District #2, where Dan Crenshaw ran a credible campaign, provided the voters with something to vote FOR, and ended up with a rare Harris County win in Harris County with 53% of the vote.
Yes, straight party voting played a role*. But it's not the entire story. Neither was it the entire story when Republicans were winning by large margins. At the end of the day you have to be a good candidate with a good platform to sell to your potential constituents. Crenshaw figured that out, Emmett and Culberson did not.
*In the judicial elections however straight-party voting probably did tell the entire story. Most voters don't have the time or energy to pay attention to those races, and a 6% edge in straight party voting was probably enough to sweep what remains of the Harris County Republican Judge slate off of the bench.
