Tired Of The Racist Commentary Being Aimed At Judge-elect Hidalgo

On Tuesday night no doubts were left that Harris County is undeniably blue as the blue tsunami knocked every remaining Republican judge off the bench, fired the much disliked Stan Stanart, and left every executive position in Democratic hands when the night was over.

Lina Hidalgo's upset win over longtime county judge Ed Emmett combined with Adrian Garcia's win for the Precinct 2 commissioners court seat put the Democrats in control of that body for the first time in over a decade.

Much of the racist vitriol about the shellacking the Harris County Republicans took Tuesday night is being aimed at our new county judge-elect, who at 27 is the youngest person ever elected to the position since 1937.  She's also the first Latina to also hold the top executive position in Harris County. 

And frankly. I'm tired of it.

As you have probably guessed, the commentary from the right wing peanut gallery is that 'straight ticket Democratic voters put her in office'.  And that came from sore loser Ed Emmett. 

The MAGAt's have picked up on that attack line, in addition to calling her 'unqualified' and 'inexperienced' along with other epithets I won't repeat in this post.   As for the other ridiculous charge of 'she's never attended a Harris County commissioners court meeting' or 'hasn't spent much time in the county', hello, she was spending that time outside the county getting a Stanford degree. 

I am a native Houstonian and I've never attended a commissioners court meeting either.   So what's your point with that BS line?    I know one commissioner court meeting I am going to attend soon is the one in which she and Adrian Garcia are officially sworn in.

Hidalgo has a degree from Stanford University and studied public policy at Harvard.  She's going to get a chance to put that education to work on behalf of the 5 million residents of Harris County. 

I find it interesting y'all don't worry about qualifications and experience when it's a Republican white male running for a position.   You also didn't complain about straight ticket voting when it benefitted your party in 2010 and 2014.

And speaking of complaints, I'll bet if Hidalgo were a white female with the same or lesser qualifications, we wouldn't be hearing a peep out of the GOP peanut gallery, especially if she was on their political team.  But because she's a Latinx woman, and her upset win flipped control of commissioner's court to make it look more like our diverse county, y'all wanna hate. 

I'm also tired of hearing people on the left grousing about Emmett being bounced.  Really don't care, because as far as I'm concerned, the only good Republican politician these days is an out of office one. 

If Emmett were a good man as y'all claim he is, he would have left the Republican Party.  Since he didn't, he paid the political price for it in a county that is filled with non-white people sick and tired of being repeatedly attacked and demonized by the Texas GOP.

Harris County is blue, I and the majority of Democratic voters wanted Democrats in these positions and we seized the opportunity to make Harris County blue again. 

And yes, I think she'll do an excellent job in the position. 

So be mad and stay mad about that Harris County GOP snowflakes.   But what we will not do is tolerate racist commentary being aimed at our new County Judge-elect.|

Stan Stanart Trafficking In Anti-Semitism In Re-Election Bid

I have loathed Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, the Republican in charge of Harris County's voting apparatus for years.  He has made it clear multiple times he is a partisan hack who camouflages it a veneer of 'good Republican' respectability in order to get crossover votes. 

In addition to wasting $2.75 million of Harris County tax dollars on an automated voter check in system that is still not ready for election prime time, he has engaged in voter suppression on behalf of his party as he desperately tries (and fails) to keep Harris County from inexorably turning blue by restricting early voting hours from 8 AM-4 PM in the Lone Star State's largest and most populous county during the first week of it to 8 AM-4 PM instead of 7 AM-7 PM.

For this midterm it was 8 AM-4:30 PM.   

He also pissed off the Houston TBLGQ community back in 2015.  On the day the Obergefell v. Hodges SCOTUS ruling dropped, he stalled the issuance of marriage licenses for same sex couples for most of the day until he was forced to issue them by Harris County attorney Vince Ryan and several couples ready with attorneys on hand to handle their marriage business. 

Stanart then later shadily changed the design of the Harris County marriage licenses to include a pic of a man and woman getting married.

The non-white community in Harris County despises him to the point that #FireStanStanart has been a hashtagged rallying cry for us every election cycle as we fume not only about the suppression efforts, but how slowly the election night returns come in from his office.

Stanart is finally up for reelection and being challenged by Diane Trautman, the Democratic nominee for his job.   It has come to light that on his campaign website he is pimping an anti-Semitic attack on George Soros in order to stave off election defeat.

Make NO mistake, George Soros wants to control Harris County Elections and Stan Stanart is in his way. If Harris County, larger in population than 26 states, allows socialists like Soros to control our elections, then Texas is next. It is almost impossible for a Republican to win the White House without the 38 Electoral College votes from Texas. 

Stan needs your help TODAY to fight the millions that Soros and his allies plan to pour into Harris County. There are many more Flag Waving, defenders of the Constitution then those who support Soros’ world views, but remember “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.”– Edmund Burke.

This is disgusting, and Stanart needs to be punished at the polls for it.  Fortunately we have a few days left in early voting and Election Day on November 6 to #FireStanStanart, and hire Diane Trautman in his place.

TransGriot Update:  Stanart has pulled the disgusting ad from his website.   Still needs to be bounced from his position and replaced by Diane Trautman  

Nineteen Black Women Running For Harris County Judicial Benches

One of the other interesting things I'll be watching on Election Night 2018 is the developing story of nineteen Black women who are running for various judicial benches in the most populous county in Texas, Harris County. 

This story has been building since the March Texas primary, when these women won their various judicial primary races.

One of the stories that was overshadowed in the 2016 election is the fact that Harris County, which had been trending purple over the last few cycles, went undeniably blue that year and is on track to do so again in less than 60 days.

Harris County provides 25% of all the votes cast in a Texas statewide election. The other reason why these 19 Black women running is important for our community is because in addition to providing judicial leadership that reflects our community, winners of judicial seats, since they are countywide races, are looked at as potential candidates by the parties for statewide and federal races.

These women are not only part of the historic wave of Black women running for office in this 2018 cycle, they are also sending the undeniable message that Black women are the base of the Democratic Party, they deserve to be listened to, and also hold public office.  .

For you people who claim that you #TrustBlackWomen, your best bet for proving that you do precisely that would be to commit yourself to the action starting during the early voting period on October 22 and closing on November 6 to electing all nineteen of these well qualified Black women candidates for the judicial benches they are running for 

Our Harris County courthouse judges need to reflect the diversity of the 5 million people who live in the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the US. 

Electing these 19 women, Dedra Davis, Maria Jackson, Latosha Lewis Payne, Shannon Baldwin, Erica Hughes, Ronnisha Bowman, Tonya Jones, Cassandra Holleman, LaShawn Williams, Ramona Franklin, Lauren Reeder, Angela Graves-Harrington, Sandra Peake, Lori Chambers Grey, Linda M. Dunson, Germaine Tanner, and Michelle Moore would be a huge step toward making that diversity in the courthouse a reality

Trust Black women means electing Black women to public office.

Lina Hidalgo- People's State of the County Speech

Despite Harris County going undeniably blue in the 2016 election cycle, we unfortunately have a 4-1 Republican majority on the Harris County Commissioners Court.

County Judge Ed Emmett, knowing that he is up for reelection in a few months  in a county that is increasingly Democratic and pissed off at GOP controlled Austin and Washington DC, has been trying to play the 'I'm a moderate Republican' card.  She's dhowed up at this year's Transgender Unity Banquet.

But where was his azz when we needed a Republican to speak up about the unjust SB 6?  HERO?  SB 4?   He was fundraising for the same reprehensible Texas Republicans he's now trying to riverdance away from .   

It's one of the reasons I would love to see Lina Hidalgo #FireEdEmmett and become the next Harris County Judge.

Since Emmett recently gave a state of Harris County speech, I'm giving Lina Hidalgo some time on my blog for you to hear her commentary about the county and her opponent.

Harris County Democratic Party Chair Election Today

My home county, Harris County is the largest by population in the Lone Star State and provides 22% of the vote totals in any statewide election    It is also one of the most diverse counties in the state thanks to its county seat of Houston

We just had the pleasure of watching it turn blue in the 2016 election cycle and want to solidify those  Democratic gains in 2018 and other future elections

Despite that success in turning Harris County from purple to blue, Lane Lewis, who has served ats the HCDP chair since 2011 resigned in February and today at HCDP party headquarters the precinct chairs will gather to select his replacement

Two favorites have emerged so far in Lillie Schechter, who was endorsed by the Houston LGBT Caucus, Eartha Johnson and Dominique Davis, who is active in the HCDP leadership ranks and is garnering an increasing number of supporters for her to get the job.

One of them is me.  

Unlike some of the other candidates, Dominique actually reached out to me and asked for my support.

 I attended a listening session she held yesterday,in Southeast Houston  with a diverse group of precinct chairs and was impressed with her knowledge of the party operations, her willingness to listen to the concerns of the precinct chairs, solicit their ideas for making the HCDP better  and also after it was done, ask me what can be done to increase and have sustained representation of trans people in the Harris County Democratic Party ranks

I believe Dominique Davis would be the perfect choice to succeed Lane Lewis as HCDP chair,. I'm not only enthusiastically endorsing her for HDCP chair, I'm urging people to make that happen at today County Executive Committee meeting..

Thee meeting at HCDP headquarters is open to the general public, but only the precinct chairs will be allowed to vote for our next Harris County Democratic Party leader.

It is running from 3-6 PM and will take place at the IBEW Union hall next door to HCDP headquarters at 1445 North Loop West Fwy.

And yes, I'll be in the house to watch it..

TransGriot Update:  Lillie Schechter ended up getting elected as HCDP chair with 190 votes over Eartha Johnson with 118.   Dominique received 21 votes.

Harris County Goes Blue!

>The news wasn't all bad for me and Team Liberal-progressive on November 8.

My home county, Harris County, which with over 4 million people in it is the third largest county in the nation and the largest in Texas by population, went blue on Election Night!

What was even more delicious was that Fort Bend County, one of our neighboring counties to the southwest which once upon a time was the political base of the odious Tom DeLay, also went blue on Election Night.   It has become more diverse since 2000.

We did in Harris County what the nation should have done. fired everything with an R behind their name. Hillary romped in Harris County    The GOP lost every county wide seat they held.  We elected Kim Ogg, who narrowly lost two years ago as our DA (#ByeDevon).  We reclaimed the sheriff's office by electing Ed Gonzales to replace the appointed Republican Ron Hickman.. We added new Democratic state judges and now have 12 African-American women judges at the county courthouse.

Stan Stanart, you're next.  We need to have a Democrat as Harris County clerk administering voting rules in this diverse county.  We're done with your shady voter suppression tactics.

Neither is the SGL community going to forget how you stalled implementation of the Obergefell ruling here for several hours.

Flipping the county was the easy part.   Now comes the hard part of keeping it in 2018 and beyond.

Three 2016 Major Party Trans Candidates Trying To Make More Electoral History

Hillary Clinton isn't the only candidate on the ballot attempting to make American electoral history tonight.  There are three trans candidates on the ballot in Utah, Colorado and Texas also trying to make history and win their respective races.

We have two shots today at getting an American trans person in that exclusive international sorority of trans people who are elected national legislators  in Misty Snow and Misty Plowright.

In Utah, the 30 year old Snow became the first out transperson to win a major party US senate primary race and any political race in Utah when she overwhelmingly captured the Democratic US senate primary. over Jonathan Swinton.

Snow is now facing the daunting political task of trying to upset incumbent Sen. Mike Lee (R) in staunchly conservative Utah.

Next door in Colorado, the 33 year Plowright is running in Colorado's 5th Congressional District.   She became the first out trans person to win a Democratic Party nomination for a US congressional seat and any race in Colorado by handily defeating Donald Martinez.

The late Karen Kerin was the first out trans person to win a major party nomination for the US House.  In 2000 Kerin won the Republican nomination for Vermont's US House seat, then lost in the general election to independent Bernie Sanders.
Plowright also has a tough political task to accomplish in attempting to unseat five time incumbent Congressman Doug Lamborn (R) in this congressional district centered in conservative leaning Colorado Springs that is also the home of the transphobic Focus on the Family..

Here in my Houston backyard, Jenifer Rene Pool is attempting to make more trans political history. Back in March she became the first out trans person in Texas to win a major party primary race when she won the Democratic nomination in the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 race.

She now taking on longtime incumbent Republican commissioner Steve Radack, who has held this sprawling precinct that covers 400 square miles of western Harris County since 1980.

If Jenifer wins, she not only makes more Lone Star State political history, she will by winning that race flip political control of the Harris County Commissioners Court to the Democrats.  

Good luck later today, ladies.   Hope you are successful in your various races.      

Texas Early Voting Starts October 24

Since the last presidential debate between Democratic nominee Sec. Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump will be talking place later tonight, it's a nice time to remind all you TransGriot Texas readers that early voting is starting on October 24 in the Lone Star State.

With polls showing that the race is within the margin of error, we have a chance to make happen something that hasn't occurred since I was 14 in seeing Texas go blue.

The last time that happened was in 1976 when Jimmy Carter took the Lone Star State, and now we have a historic opportunity to flip it to blue.

But for that to happen, you must go to the polls and vote.   And don't just start and stop with the presidential race either.  There are other races and positions on the ballot that need your undivided attention, and you need to vote from POTUS to dog catcher

Also as a reminder, thanks to the Veasey v. Abbott case, the Texas Voter Suppression law is DEAD because it was declared unconstitutional.  

The Texas GOP still tried to play that voter suppression game, and got called on it by Nelva Gonzales Ramos, the federal judge overseeing the case ruled they were willfully defying her order.

Harris County clerk Stan Stanart (R) is also being investigated by the court as well.   Time to replace him anyway on November 8 with someone who will fairly administer the election system in our county.

In case you're wondering, Judge Ramos is an Obama appointee.  Presidential elections matter, especially when it comes to the federal judiciary.

You do not need a photo ID to vote if you don't have one. You will need to be registered and have your blue voter registration card, and sign a statement swearing you are the person appearing to vote before you will be allowed to..

I'm looking forward to doing my civic duty and gleefully saying, "You're fired" to every Republican on my ballot, and can't wait until 2018 to do the same to Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott.

Back to focusing on the task at hand in this 2016 election.  

In Harris County, (the city of Houston's county for you non Texans) early voting will be in various locations, and have different times for different periods.   From October 24-28, the early voting polling centers will be open from 8 AM-6 PM.

On Souls To The Polls Weekend, on Saturday the early voting locations will be open from 7 AM-7 PM on Saturday, October 29, and on Sunday, October 30 from 1-6 PM

From October 31-November 4, the polls will be open from 7 AM-7 PM.

Check your local county clerk website for the times and early voting polling locations for your part of the Lone Star State.   You can also check the Texas Secretary of State website for more information about our upcoming election.

Congrats Jenifer On Your Historic Win!

While everyone was focused last night on the big Super Tuesday delegate fight between the presidential candidates from both parties, a little trans history was made in Houston on election night.

Jenifer Rene Pool, who has made three runs for Houston City Council, shifted gears and ran for the Democratic nomination in the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 race to see who would take on longtime Republican commissioner Steve Radack.

Pool racked up a decisive win against her Democratic primary challenger, racking up 78% of the vote.  She becomes the first out transperson to win a primary election contest in Harris County and the state of Texas, and now takes on the formidable challenge of unseating a longtime conservative incumbent on Harris County Commissioner's Court.

Congrats on your history making achievement Jenifer!   Now let's take it to the next step and get you that seat at the Harris County Commissioner's Court table!