Texas Municipal Elections Today

Today also happens to be the day set aside for municipal elections in Texas.   Polls opened at 7 AM and will be open until 7 PM CDT/MDT.

Just an FYI, if you're in line when the polls close, stay there until you get to cast your ballot.

There are some key ones I'm watching, one in suburban Pearland and another in the town of New Hope, TX, northeast of Dallas.

In New Hope, Jess Herbst will be attempting to get reelected as mayor of the town of 524 residents.  She was mayor pro tem when the previous mayon Johnny Hamm died.   After being appointed as mayor, came out as trans.   Now she's running her first campaign as a out trans person against Angel Hamm, the wife of the deceased mayor and two other candidates. 

We'll see if she was successful in getting reelected when the polls close, because in New Hope, the most votes wins.

The other Texas municipal elections I'm watching are both in Pearland.  Dalia Kasseb makes her second attempt to get elected to a Pearland City Council seat.

The Pearland ISD has two races that could determine control of the school board and lead to the ousting of their homophobic and transphobic superintendent Dr. John Kelly

One of the school board candidate challenging a PISD incumbent board member is Daniel Hernandez, the imam of the local mosque

And as you probably guessed, Islamophobia and dirty tricks have been deployed in both those races.

Here's hoping the fair minded citizenry of Pearland turn out and send a message to the haters that Pearland is a diverse city, and representation on the school board and on city council need to reflect that .

We'll know for sure what happened when the polls close and the votes get counted.

TransGriot Update:  While Dalia made the runoff in her council race, Jess wasn't as fortunate on election night.