Party Leaders Pin Hopes on Harris

Boyd Richie

It's no secret Harris County is key to Texas Democratic Party hopes to take back the state House. Party Chair Boyd Richie telling the State Convention on April 22, "By the way, Harris County? You're next!" was a clue. Dems hope to repeat in Harris and the Greater Houston area what they achieved in Dallas County in 2006, when the Republican stronghold flipped all the way down the ballot. This year, only five of the nine Harris Dems challenging GOP incumbents need to win to switch the House. Former TDP spokeswoman Amber Moon, now working for the Harris Co. Democratic Party, said the election push came after local Democrats saw their 2006 judicial candidates slice into the traditional margins of Republican incumbents. "This was a decisive trend that the pendulum was slipping," she said. "We thought, 'Wow, we can put some effort into the ground game.'"

Moon attributes this momentum to a combination of factors: demographics, a big presidential year, and scandals swirling around the GOP-dominated sheriff's office, including revelations of racist e-mails. In 2004, nearly 80,000 Harris residents voted in the Democratic presidential primary. This time, the number jumped to 410,000, and Moon expects that turnout will benefit local candidates like House District 135's Trey Flem­ing, running against seven-term GOP incumbent Rep. Gary Elkins and his unremarkable track record. This year, more than 13,500 Democrats voted in his district primary – 6,000 more than in the Republican primary and three times the Democrats' 2004 turnout.

But Harris could also provide a subtle tectonic shift in power in the Senate. Former Galveston Mayor Pro Tem Joe Jaworski is seen as having a reasonable shot at dislodging Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, from Senate District 11. The biggest potential upset is SD 17, where Democrat Chris Bell faces a split ticket of three confirmed Republicans to replace resigning GOP incumbent Kyle Janek. Bell may be best remembered in Central Texas for his failed 2006 gubernatorial run against Gov. Rick Perry. But Harris Democrats hope locals remember his time as an ethics-reforming Houston council member and U.S. congressman. "That's not the kind of candidate that I would want to run against," said Moon.